Electrostatic force between two charged spherical conductors in an electric field: Matched asymptotic expansion approach

TL;DR

This paper develops asymptotic expressions for the electrostatic force between two charged spherical conductors in an electric field using matched asymptotic expansion, enabling efficient computation at small separations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of matched asymptotic expansions to derive asymptotic forms of complex series for electrostatic force calculations between spheres.

Findings

Asymptotic expressions closely match actual series at small separations.

The method reduces computational complexity for force calculations.

Percentage errors are minimized with the derived asymptotic forms.

Abstract

In this study, we derive the asymptotic expressions for the electrostatic force between two charged spherical conductors in an electric field. Davis \cite{davis1964two} initially provided an expression for these forces, which are split into components along the X and Z directions. These forces are influenced by several factors, including the separation distance between the spheres, their sizes, their charges, the applied external electric field, and 10 specific force coefficients. These coefficients involve complex series expressions, and computing them requires summing up the 24 infinite series. To tackle the challenge of series convergence, previous researchers (\cite{lekner2012electrostatics}, \cite{lekner2013forces}, \cite{arp1977particle}) have used various methods to derive asymptotic expressions. In this work, the method of matched asymptotic expansions has been implemented to derive the asymptotic forms of these 24 series, specifically for the scenario involving two equal-sized conducting spheres in an external electric field. Accurate calculation of these series is crucial, especially when the distance between the spheres is very small, making the series calculations computationally intensive. We utilize the method proposed by Cox and Brenner \cite{Cox1967} to derive the asymptotic expressions and hence compute the 10 force coefficients and finally apply them to compute the electrostatic force for small separations. Additionally, we assess the accuracy of these asymptotic expressions by comparing them to the actual series and analyzing their deviations through percentage errors.