Express the position vector in the suggested orthonormal basis as . ThenThis orthogonal transformation preserves and has Jacobian determinant of absolute value one, so . The basis actually reverses orientation; the absolute value of the Jacobian determinant is why no minus sign enters the volume integral. Also , so the half-space becomes .
At each fixed , the section is the disk , of area . Its reflection symmetry in makes the integral of vanish. Hence the required triple integral isThe negative sign is also consistent with the cap lying in the direction , where its average coordinate is negative.
The orientation assumption gives . The same open half-space is therefore characterized byEquality would put the point in the separating plane, rather than strictly on the same side.
Set . Since these vectors form a basis, write . The reciprocal basis givesA point is in the closed tetrahedron precisely when it is a convex combination of the four vertices, with weights . Thus the necessary and sufficient conditions areThese four half-spaces are the four inward sides of its faces. This is tetrahedron membership via scalar triple products; making all inequalities strict describes the interior.
The domain is the three-dimensional upper half-space. Reflect the source point to . The method of images places an opposite source at this reflected point, giving the Dirichlet image kernel for the three-dimensional modified Helmholtz equationOn , the two Euclidean distances are equal, so the terms cancel exactly. The image lies outside the domain, so its contribution satisfies the homogeneous modified Helmholtz equation everywhere inside; only the original source contributes a Dirac delta. Both terms decay at infinity, including for , and the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition follows.
Planar London screening 2026-10-14
Take a homogeneous material exhibiting superconductivity in the half-space , bounded by vacuum at . Fix the temperature below the superconducting transition temperature, take a constant positive London penetration depth , and assume a local, linear London equation description in a Meissner state. The applied magnetic field is weak enough that it neither nucleates a quantum vortex nor appreciably suppresses the material's superconductivity. Assume translation invariance in , no imposed transport electric current, and a tangential boundary magnetic field . Here is the local surface magnetic flux density, equal to the imposed vacuum magnetic field in this infinite planar geometry; it is not automatically the far-away applied value for a finite object.
For a bounded, decaying interior solution, the London equations, magnetostatic Ampère law and Gauss's law for magnetism giveThe solution isAt one London penetration depth the magnetic field is of its surface value; at five it is . There is no finite depth where this exponential is exactly zero. The differential equation excludes the growing exponential through the deep-interior boundary condition. A constant normal component cannot decay in this geometry: Gauss's law for magnetism would require . A perpendicular applied magnetic field on a finite plate therefore requires a different spatial problem.[ref]
Lecture notes on the electrodynamics of metals and superconductors. §2, p. 13, Eqs. (68)–(74): London screening equation; the planar boundary-value solution here follows directly
Reflection from a layered SH impedance 2026-10-14
Set the lower half-space load to using the causal vertical wavenumber branch, which excludes a wave arriving from depth infinity. Apply the uniform-layer SH impedance update upwards through every layer, keeping particle velocity and traction continuous. For upper half-space impedance , incident velocity and reflected velocity , the top values are and . Their ratio gives the displayed reflection coefficient, incorporating every underlying interface and multiple reflection.
For great circles on a sphere, with no coincident circles or triple intersection, the number of open regions is . The first circle gives two regions. Each subsequent circle meets the previous circles at distinct points and is divided into that many arcs, each splitting a previous region. Summing the increments proves the formula. If the circles are , each region has one fixed sign vector . Conversely a realized strict sign vector has a connected region: its cone is an intersection of open half-spaces, and radial projection of line segments connects any two points.
Rigid-backed shear-wave dispersion 2026-10-25
A layer with shear modulus and wave speed lies between a rigid support and a half-space with shear modulus and wave speed . A trapped antiplane shear normal mode has layer amplitude and exterior amplitude , where and . Continuity of displacement field and traction gives the displayed dispersion relation. It requires and differs from a Love wave with a free boundary.
System of linear inequalities 2026-10-14
A system of linear inequalities requires several linear inequalities to hold simultaneously. The notation compares coordinates componentwise, giving one inequality per row of the matrix . Its solution set is the intersection of the corresponding half-spaces. For non-strict inequalities it is a linear polyhedron, which may be empty. For example, , , are inconsistent: adding their equivalent forms , , gives . A Farkas certificate for linear inequalities generalizes this cancellation.
Let . The reciprocal basis gives the coordinates of any position vector asThe point lies in the closed tetrahedron with vertices exactly when and . Indeed, these conditions express it as a convex combination of the four vertices, with fourth weight . They also describe the intersection of the four inward half-spaces bounded by its faces. Strict inequalities characterize its interior.
Topological manifold with boundary 2026-10-14
For , a topological -manifold with boundary is a Hausdorff second-countable space locally homeomorphic to relatively open sets in the half-space . The openness here is in the subspace topology of , not necessarily in . Its intrinsic boundary consists of points sent to ; the remaining points have ordinary coordinate charts with images open in Euclidean space. The intrinsic boundary is independent of the chosen chart.[ref]
Week 2 course notes. Topology I: smooth manifolds, Week 2, Section 1.3, equation (21), Definition 1.21 and Remark 1.24, page 7
The closed interval illustrates the distinction: its interior points have open interval charts, while and have charts modeled on , using and . Its intrinsic boundary is . The circle has empty intrinsic boundary even though its boundary of a set as a subset of the Euclidean plane is the whole circle. A topological manifold without boundary is therefore a special case with , and a smooth atlas on the half-space charts gives a manifold with boundary in the smooth sense.
