Magnetic multipole moments (Gauss coefficients) and vector potential given by an arbitrary current distribution

Abstract

Until recently there has been nothing in the geomagnetic literature giving the Gauss coefficients (equivalent to magnetic multipole moments) for the magnetic scalar potential produced outside a finite-sized region of electric current. Nor has there been an expression for the corresponding magnetic vector potential. This paper presents a simple expression for the Gauss coefficients in terms of a volume integral over the current, and also a series expansion of the vector potential in terms of these coefficients. We show how our result is related to the classical expressions for the scalar potential given by a spherical current sheet, and to the results of the recent papers by Engels and Olsen (1998), Stump and Pollack (1998) and Kazantsev (1999). Copyright © The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS).