Axisymmetric harmonic extension from a sphere (${\Psi }_{\mathrm{in}}={\sum }_{\ell }{f}_{\ell }(r/a{)}^{\ell }{P}_{\ell },{\Psi }_{\mathrm{out}}={\sum }_{\ell }{f}_{\ell }(a/r{)}^{\ell +1}{P}_{\ell }$)

For boundary data $f(u)$ on the sphere $r=a$, with $u=\cos \theta$, define its Legendre polynomial coefficients by $f_{\ell }=(2\ell +1){\int }_{-1}^{1}f(u)P_{\ell }(u)du/2$. Separation of variables in the Laplace equation gives radial factors $r^{\ell }$ and $r^{-\ell -1}$. Regularity at the origin selects the first for the interior Dirichlet problem; decay at infinity selects the second for the exterior problem. Matching each boundary coefficient gives the displayed series. For continuous boundary data the resulting harmonic functions attain those data, with convergence interpreted through their harmonic extension rather than requiring uniform convergence of the unweighted boundary series. The maximum principle for harmonic functions proves uniqueness in the bounded interior and decaying exterior classes.

Suppose the exterior of a sphere also has zero Dirichlet boundary conditions on the part of its equatorial plane outside the sphere. The plane separates the upper and lower domains. Extend the sphere data of each hemisphere oddly across the equator, and apply the axisymmetric harmonic extension from a sphere separately to these two odd extensions. Only odd-degree Legendre polynomials occur, and every such polynomial vanishes at $u=\cos \theta =0$. Thus the resulting harmonic function vanishes on the plane. For upper data $f(u)$ on $0\le u\le 1$, the exterior coefficients are $(2\ell +1){\int }_0^{1}f(u)P_{\ell }(u)du$ for odd $\ell$. If $f(0)=0$, the plane and sphere data agree at their shared edge. The same construction with the lower data gives the lower solution; their normal derivatives need not match through a conducting sheet.