English

Four-dimensional reflection groups and electrostatics

Classical Physics 2020-09-02 v4 Quantum Gases Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We present a new class of electrostatics problems that are exactly solvable by adding finitely many image charges. Given a charge at some location inside a cavity bounded by up to four conducting grounded segments of spheres: if the spheres have a symmetry derived via a stereographic projection from a 4D finite reflection group, then this is a solvable generalization of the familiar problem of a charge inside a spherical cavity. There are 19 three-parametric families of finite groups formed by inversions relative to at most four spheres, each member of each family giving a solvable problem. We solve a sample problem which derives from the reflection group D4\mathbf{D}_{4} and requires 191 image charges.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1904.04655,
  title  = {Four-dimensional reflection groups and electrostatics},
  author = {Maxim Olshanii and Yuri Styrkas and Dmitry Yampolsky and Vanja Dunjko and Steven G. Jackson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.04655},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

26 pages, 6 figures Submitted to Foundations of Physics

R2 v1 2026-06-23T08:34:11.348Z