Multipole radiation expands radiation from localized time-dependent sources into electric and magnetic multipoles. Electric dipole radiation is the leading electric term, while magnetic dipole radiation and higher electric multipoles contribute when the leading term vanishes or higher precision is needed.
Multipole radiation refers to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a system that can be described by the multipole expansion of its electric or magnetic fields. In classical electrodynamics, charge distributions and currents can be represented by a series of terms that describe their contributions to the electromagnetic field, grouped by their symmetry and decay behavior with distance from the source.
New to topics? Read the docs here!