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I know that bound currents do not result in accumulation of charge from their physical description, but I was wondering if there is a magnetic analogue of the mathematical trick used to show that net bound charge in polarization is zero (reproduced from these notes): $$Q_{b}^{\mathrm{net}}\ =\ \ \iint\,\sigma_{b}\,d^{2}A\ +\ \ \iiint\rho_{b}\,d^{3}{V}\\ =\iint\,(\mathbf{P}\cdot\mathbf{n})d^{2}A~-~{}\iiint\,(\nabla\cdot\mathbf{P})d^{3}V=0$$

Where $\mathbf P$ is polarization density and I will be taking $\mathbf M$ as magnetization density and $\mathbf H$ as auxillary magnetic field.

So far, looking at these two, $\mathbf{K}=\mathbf{M}\times \mathbf{\hat n}$ and $\mathbf{J} = \mathbf{\nabla} \times \mathbf{M}$, it does not appear obvious. Since $\mathbf{J}$ is divergence-free, it will not result in charge accumulation but the same is not necessarily true of surface current density $\mathbf K$. The divergence of surface current density $\mathbf K$ must be balanced by $\mathbf J$ near the surface. I feel like this property should be satisfied inherently by definition of the surface charge density as $\mathbf K=\mathbf M\times \mathbf {\hat{n}}$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes yes, by definition of induced current in a loop bound currents should never accumulate charge but I want to know if the definitions are simply consistent with that using differential calculus. $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 6 at 14:24
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    $\begingroup$ Please don't create questions that rely too strongly on external links. If it is important, present it here. Next. I am not sure there there is much depth in the term bound currents. There is some convention, but I am not sure it is something set in stone. So what is it that you want to do? Define current density that is not associated with any charge density accumulation? By Helmholtz decomposition it will have to be something that is a curl of something else. $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 6 at 20:39
  • $\begingroup$ You can make special versions of this that suit surface current densities, either using generalized functions or by starting from 3d and taking appropriate limits $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 6 at 20:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Cryo Edited the proof into the question. About your answer, does that mean it imposes special restrictions on the variation of $\mathbf M$ on the surface, as in $\mathbf M$ is not allowed to be arbitrary field? Actually, shouldn't even arbitrary $\mathbf M$ never cause charge accumulation anyway since they are physically interpreted as swirling currents? $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 7 at 4:23
  • $\begingroup$ You did not define $\mathbf{P}$. What is it? $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 7 at 7:42

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It feels to me like there might be some confusion between different surfaces here. I will not try to show tricks of how to prove bound currents do not lead to charge accumulation, and what happens with them on the surface. Instead, I will introduce surface current through the route of continuity conditions, and then show what is necessary for it to not lead to charge accumulation. You can define it as bound surface current if you wish.

For things like charge density $\rho$ and current density $\mathbf{J}$ you can establish existence of conservation laws of the shape:

$$ \boldsymbol{\nabla}.\mathbf{J}+\partial_t \rho=0 $$

Where $t$ is time. You can integrate the above equation over some volume $V$, with surface $\partial V$ to find:

$$ \int_V d^3 r\,\partial_t \rho=\frac{d}{dt} \int_V d^3 r\, \rho=\frac{dQ_V}{dt}=-\int_V d^3 r\, \boldsymbol{\nabla}.\mathbf{J}=-\oint_{\partial V} d^2 r\, \mathbf{\hat{n}}.\mathbf{J} $$

Where $Q_V$ is the charge in volume $V$, and $\mathbf{\hat{n}}$ is the normal to the surface pointing from inside to outside. Note that $\mathbf{J}$ here is still a fully-fledged 3d surface current density with units of Amps/meter-squared.

When it comes to surface current density, one is usually concerned with continuity of Maxwell's equations across the domains. In particular, we have:

$$ \boldsymbol{\nabla}\times\mathbf{H}=\mathbf{J}+\partial_t \mathbf{D} $$

For electric displacement $\mathbf{D}$ and magnetizing field $\mathbf{H}$. This is the only equation to contain current density $\mathbf{J}$.

Consider integrating this equation, both sides of it, over a surface of a rectangle $R$ that straddles two domains. Choose coordinates in such a way that domain boundary is XY plane, with $z>0$ corresponding to domain (1) and $z<0$ corresponding to domain (2). Let the $R$'s center be positioned at the origin. Let it lie in the $XZ$ plane. The size along the $X$ dimension, call it length, is $l$, the size along the $Z$ dimension, call it height, is $h$

We will assume that $h$ and $l$ are small enough for domain boundary to be nearly parallel to XY plane in the region concerned. I don't think there are any interesting effects due to any remaining curvature.

Choose, $l\gg h$, then:

$$ \int_{R} d^2 r\,\mathbf{\hat{y}}.\boldsymbol{\nabla}\times\mathbf{H}=l\cdot\left(\mathbf{H}^{(1)}-\mathbf{H}^{(2)}\right)\Big|_{origin}.\mathbf{\hat{x}}+\mathcal{O}\left(h\right)=\int_{R} d^2 r\,\mathbf{\hat{y}}.\mathbf{J}+\mathcal{O}\left(h\right) $$

The term with electric displacement vanishes unless we assume $\mathbf{D}$ to be infinite or change infinitely fast. So we end up with discontinuity in magnetization field to be dependent on current density integral not vanishing even in the limit $h\to 0$. One way to do this is to define current density as:

$$ \mathbf{J}=\mathbf{J}^{(vol)}+\mathbf{J}^{(s)} $$

With former vanishing inside the integrals of the kind above, and the latter taking the form $\mathbf{J}^\left(s\right)\to \delta\left(z\right)\mathbf{K}\left(x,y\right)$ near the location we have considered. Here $\mathbf{K}$ would have units of Amps/meter, and would be defined only on the domain boundary. It would probably also make sense to have its direction to be constrained to pointing only along the domain boundary.

If you wanted the surface current density to be associated with no charge accumulation, you would have:

$$ \boldsymbol{\nabla}.\mathbf{J}^{(s)}\to \delta\left(z\right).\left(\partial_x K^{(x)}+\partial_y K^{(y)}\right)=0 $$

So as long as you $\mathbf{K}$ lies inside the domain interface and satisfies 2d version of the divergence condition, you will have no charge density accumulation.


ADDENDUM

In case anyone wants a more generic treatment, I think it goes like this. Let $f\left(\{x^{(i)}\}\right)=0$ be the condition that describes the interface ($\{x^{(i)}\}=x,y,z$).

A suitable expression for current density two-form is then (see exterior derivative):

$$ \mathbf{J}=K_a\left(\{x^{(i)}\}\right) \cdot \delta\left(f\left(\{x^{(i)}\}\right)\right)\:dx^{(a)}\wedge df $$

Which guarantees that surface current density ($K_a$) one-form does not have a component perpendicular to the surface. The zero-divergence condition then becomes:

$$ d\mathbf{J}=\partial_a K_b\,\delta\left(f\left(\{x^{(i)}\}\right)\right)\:dx^{(a)}\wedge dx^{(b)}\wedge df=0 $$

Which is fulfilled if $\epsilon^{abc}\,\partial_a K_b\,\partial_c f=0$ (using Levi-Civita relative tensors).

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  • $\begingroup$ Hola! Thanks for the derivation, which feels familiar to what I have read. I think charge accumulation due to surface density is allowed as long as it it balanced by the current density just within the surface $\mathbf J$ so that the net charge accumulation at the spot is zero. I feel like the two definitions (of physical quantitites) $\mathbf J=\nabla \times \mathbf M$ and surface charge density $\mathbf K = \mathbf M \times \mathbf{\hat{n}}$ should automatically satisfy this? Similar to how in polarization, definition of bound charges automatically give net charge zero. Is it right to assume $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 7 at 11:55
  • $\begingroup$ @372191, if $\mathbf{J}$ is current density, its units are Amps/meter^2, so units of $\mathbf{M}$ must be Amps/meter, but units of charge density (which you denoted with $\mathbf{K}$) would be either Coulombs/meter^3 or Coulombs/meter^2 (for the surface version). Your suggestion does not work even on the level of units. Basically, continuity equation constrains charge and current density, so if you are in a dynamic situation, then once you specified current density, charge density is fixed. $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 7 at 13:29
  • $\begingroup$ If you do want to have additional things like surface charge density, your constraint, due to surface current density would be something like $\rho^{surface}=\int^t dt' \boldsymbol{\nabla}.\mathbf{J}^{surface}$ $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 7 at 13:33
  • $\begingroup$ Also note that surface current density does not need to be a curl of something, strictly speaking. It needs to be a curl of something in the plane of the surface, but it can potentially be something more complex away from the surface. Not quite sure what the practical application of this could be... perhaps it could help in some numerical approaches by allowing one to have a simpler form of the current density $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 7 at 13:38
  • $\begingroup$ @372191, best way to think about surface current density, IMHO, it is whatever allows you to have discontinuity in magnetization field ($\mathbf{H}$), across two domains. Not very physical, but if you wanted to get into physics of the surface layer, you would not try to squeeze it into a single blob 'called surface current density'. $\endgroup$
    – Cryo
    Commented Apr 7 at 14:11
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Divergence of polarization current $\partial_t \mathbf P$ does not vanish in general, so actually there can be accumulation of electric charge on a dielectric surface, or near a free charge inside the dielectric, or at discontinuities of permittivity inside. Net charge bound to a dielectric body is zero only if there is no free charge present in the body. It is the net bound charge that is zero in a usual dielectric body.

Three-dimensional divergence of a three-dimensional magnetization current density does vanish everywhere though, because of its definition:

$$ \mathbf J = \nabla \times \mathbf M,\tag{1} $$ thus $$ \nabla \cdot \mathbf J = \frac{\partial J_x }{\partial x} + \frac{\partial J_y }{\partial y} + \frac{\partial J_z }{\partial z} = 0.\tag{2} $$ Both these equations hold everywhere, including the boundary surface of the magnetized body.

You seem to ask if similar zero divergence condition necessarily holds in two dimensions of the boundary surface of the magnetized body. That is, whether the surface current density $\boldsymbol{\sigma} = \mathbf M\times \mathbf n$ obeys

$$ \frac{\partial \sigma_x}{\partial x} + \frac{\partial \sigma_y}{\partial y} = 0. $$

It is easy to see this implies $$ \frac{\partial M_x}{\partial y} - \frac{\partial M_y}{\partial x} = 0, $$ that is, zero curl of $\mathbf M$ in the plane of the boundary surface.

This is a condition on $\mathbf M$ that is true in case of uniform magnetization, but in general, it need not be satisfied. For example, magnetizations such as $(Cy,0,0)$ in a cuboid block or $(C y,-C x, 0)$ in a cylinder do not satisfy it. Thus the two-dimensional divergence of surface current does not vanish in general. This does not break (2), because there is the third term there, a derivative of the normal component of current along $z$, and this need not be zero.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hey, this is exactly what I mean. The question is whether the definitions $\mathbf J = \nabla \times \mathbf M$ and $\mathbf K=\mathbf M\times \hat n$ guarantee that the divergences on surface are cancelled by the current densities underneath the surface to ensure no net charges are formed in any volume cut out including the surface. Considering the physical picture of magnetization, this should always be true, right? But can it be shown to be necessarily so, given that the equations are given? $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 9 at 16:48
  • $\begingroup$ @372191 The general expression for magnetisation current density is $\mathbf J = \nabla \times \mathbf M$, and from this it follows that surface current density in the plane is given by $\mathbf M \times \mathbf n$. However, this surface current density need not describe total magnetisation current near the surface completely, there may be non-zero normal component (although that does look weird) and thus the surface current density alone, being incomplete description of current, need not obey any simple condition such as its divergence being zero. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 9 at 22:11
  • $\begingroup$ @372191 The formula $\mathbf J = \nabla \times \mathbf M$ itself alone guarantees that charge density inside and on the surface of a body (in which the only current is the magnetization current) does not change in time. The other formula $\mathbf M\times \mathbf n$ is just an expression implied by the first formula, and gives only partial information on the total current density. $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 9 at 22:43
  • $\begingroup$ That does make sense, although it seems like I have to look into it. Thanks a lot for explaining! $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 10 at 9:05
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This is a good question as too often such issues are dealt with by hand waving.

Take a look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covariant_formulation_of_classical_electromagnetism# (ignore reference 5, which is wrong):

“The bound current is derived from the P and M fields which form an antisymmetric contravariant magnetization-polarization tensor

$$\mathcal{M}^{\mu \nu} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & P_x c & P_y c & P_z c \\ - P_x c & 0 & -M_z & M_y \\ - P_y c & M_z & 0 & -M_x \\ - P_z c & -M_y & M_x & 0 \end{pmatrix} \,,$$

which determines the bound current $${j^\nu}_\text{bound} = \partial_\mu \mathcal{M}^{\mu \nu} \,.”$$

From this it follows that $${j^0}_\text{bound} = - \nabla \cdot {\bf P} $$ and $${\bf j}_\text{bound} = {\partial j^0 \over \partial t} + \nabla \times {\bf M} \,.$$ Thus in case of only magnetisation the bound current has zero divergency and does not contribute to the bound charge. However a time dependent polarisation also constitutes a bound current and this trivially contributes to the bound charge.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hello. The bound charge density definitely changes with time due to polarization current density. See here for derivation of the respective continuity equation. Same also follows from divergence free nature of the four current using the formula you presented. $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 7 at 17:47
  • $\begingroup$ However, the question is not about bound charges but local accumulation of charges due to the bound currents caused by magnetization, separate from bound charges that result from polarization. Not only is it obvious from the omission of such phenomenon in defining bound charges but also from construction of magnetic dipole moment, that these do not cause net charges to appear in medium but it is less obvious just by looking at the form of the respective equations for surface and volume current density. PS I think the tensor approach isn't useful here since it doesn't give surface phenomenon. $\endgroup$
    – 372191
    Commented Apr 7 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ @372191 Of course the surface effects are included here. That is where the divergences occur. Obviously a bound current can at most produce bound charge, which according to my answer it does not. What other charge could occur? Excitons? Free electrons and holes or perhaps photoelectrons? Are you sure you are talking about dielectric, linear, response? $\endgroup$
    – my2cts
    Commented Apr 7 at 20:02

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