If is the angle between the observation direction and , thenIntegrating over solid angle uses and gives the total electric dipole radiation power.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 3 36D ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
In the radiation zone, both fields are transverse to and obeyThe outward Poynting vector isso its time average isAn absorbing shell receives the incident momentum rather than reversing it. Hence radiation pressure on a perfectly absorbing surface givesAt ,and thereforeIf is the angle between and , this isIts spherical average is ; the vector force integrates to zero by the inversion symmetry of the electric dipole radiation pattern.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ii Paper 3 36B Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
For a localized charge and current distribution, take the retarded vector potentialLet , , and . If the source size is much smaller than both and the characteristic radiation wavelength, the leading dipole term iswhere the last identity follows from charge conservation.
Keeping only the terms in the radiation zone gives the transverse fieldsThe radial Poynting vector therefore yieldsUsingor equivalently , we recover the electric dipole radiation formulaThis requires a localized, nonrelativistic source of size , observation distance and , and neglect of higher multipoles and faster-decaying near fields.
For the pulsar, write its magnetic dipole moment as to distinguish it from the electric dipole above. The magnetic dipole radiation formula differs by a factor :Hereand hence