Past exam of the electromagnetism course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 1 / b / ii / Solution

Choose a spherical Gaussian surface of radius $s$ with $a<s<r_0$. Its physical enclosed electric charge is the total induced electric charge $Q_a$ on the inner sphere. The method of images produces the same electric field on that Gaussian surface, so Gauss's law identifies $Q_a$ with the sum of the enclosed image charges. These are the first family with $n\le -1$ and the second family with $n\le 0$:Summing these geometric series givesThe electric field in the empty central cavity vanishes by electrostatic shielding, so it contributes no additional inner-face surface charge density. The formula tends to $-q$ as $r_0\downarrow a$ and to zero as $r_0\uparrow b$, as expected when the point charge approaches one grounded boundary or the other.