Geselowitz formula 2026-10-14
For a homogeneous volume conductor with an insulating boundary , the Geselowitz formula expresses the exterior magnetic field as the primary Biot-Savart law field minus a surface contribution from the induced electric potential. For a current dipole, . On a spherical boundary, is parallel to , so the surface term has zero radial component at the observation point.
For this question use the normalized magnetic scalar potential defined by . The previous question instead includes in its scalar potential; its equals . This normalization change in the paper must be kept separate from the kernel calculation.
Take the radial component of the Geselowitz formula. On the spherical boundary, is parallel to , and
Thus the surface-current term contributes no radial magnetic field. The primary Biot-Savart law term gives, along a fixed direction ,
Choose at infinity. Integrating this equation fixes the full potential along every ray, giving
To express it as a source-position derivative, define
With , differentiating the integrand gives
so as required.
Let and . An elementary antiderivative gives the spherical current-dipole logarithmic kernel
For , both logarithm arguments are positive. Its radial derivative is and its limit at infinity is zero, which verifies the preceding integral. At use the continuous limit .
For a direct check, differentiating along leaves unchanged and gives . Since
one obtains
Its gradient is the Sarvas formula. The sphere radius and electrical conductivity disappear from this exterior magnetic result because spherical symmetry removed the radial contribution of the return currents. The original derivation and spherical-conductor assumptions are discussed in Sarvas's paper.
Sarvas formula 2026-10-14
For the exterior of a spherical volume conductor model, put , and . The displayed Sarvas formula follows by taking the radial component of the Geselowitz formula and integrating the magnetic scalar potential from infinity. It is independent of a spherically symmetric conductivity profile. The sign shown uses ; conventions defining a magnetic potential with a minus sign reverse . Sarvas's original paper derives the spherical-conductor field and its consequences for the inverse problem.