User:Tohline/Appendix/Ramblings/ConcentricEllipsodalCoordinates

Concentric Ellipsoidal (T6) Coordinates

Background

Building on our general introduction to Direction Cosines in the context of orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems, and on our previous development of T3 (concentric oblate-spheroidal) and T5 (concentric elliptic) coordinate systems, here we explore the creation of a concentric ellipsoidal (T6) coordinate system. This is motivated by our desire to construct a fully analytically prescribable model of a nonuniform-density ellipsoidal configuration that is an analog to Riemann S-Type ellipsoids.

Orthogonal Coordinates

We start by defining a "radial" coordinate whose values identify various concentric ellipsoidal shells,

<math>~\lambda_1</math>

<math>~\equiv</math>

<math>~(x^2 + q^2 y^2 + p^2 z^2)^{1 / 2} \, .</math>

When <math>~\lambda_1 = a</math>, we obtain the standard definition of an ellipsoidal surface, it being understood that, <math>~q^2 = a^2/b^2</math> and <math>~p^2 = a^2/c^2</math>. (We will assume that <math>~a > b > c</math>, that is, <math>~p^2 > q^2 > 1</math>.)

A vector, <math>~\bold{\hat{n}}</math>, that is normal to the <math>~\lambda_1</math> = constant surface is given by the gradient of the function,

<math>~F(x, y, z)</math>

<math>~\equiv</math>

<math>~(x^2 + q^2 y^2 + p^2 z^2)^{1 / 2} - \lambda_1 \, .</math>

In Cartesian coordinates, this means,

<math>~\bold{\hat{n}}(x, y, z)</math>	<math>~=</math>	<math>~ \hat\imath \biggl( \frac{\partial F}{\partial x} \biggr) + \hat\jmath \biggl( \frac{\partial F}{\partial y} \biggr) + \hat{k} \biggl( \frac{\partial F}{\partial z} \biggr) </math>
	<math>~=</math>	<math>~ \hat\imath \biggl[ x(x^2 + q^2 y^2 + p^2 z^2)^{- 1 / 2} \biggr] + \hat\jmath \biggl[ q^2y(x^2 + q^2 y^2 + p^2 z^2)^{- 1 / 2} \biggr] + \hat\jmath \biggl[ p^2 z(x^2 + q^2 y^2 + p^2 z^2)^{- 1 / 2} \biggr] </math>
	<math>~=</math>	<math>~ \hat\imath \biggl( \frac{x}{\lambda_1} \biggr) + \hat\jmath \biggl( \frac{q^2y}{\lambda_1} \biggr) + \hat\jmath \biggl(\frac{p^2 z}{\lambda_1} \biggr) \, , </math>

where it is understood that this expression is only to be evaluated at points, <math>~(x, y, z)</math>, that lie on the selected <math>~\lambda_1</math> surface — that is, at points for which the function, <math>~F(x,y,z) = 0</math>. The length of this normal vector is given by the expression,

<math>~[ \bold{\hat{n}} \cdot \bold{\hat{n}} ]^{1 / 2}</math>

<math>~=</math>

<math>~ \biggl[ \biggl( \frac{\partial F}{\partial x} \biggr)^2 + \biggl( \frac{\partial F}{\partial y} \biggr)^2 + \biggl( \frac{\partial F}{\partial z} \biggr)^2 \biggr]^{1 / 2} </math>

The properly normalized

Next, we appreciate that the vector that is normal to theWhat is the expression for the unit vector normal to the surface at <math>~(x, y, z)</math> when written in terms of Cartesian unit vectors?

Well, to start with we know that <math>~\lambda_1^2</math> is constant across the entire surface, so at any point on this specified surface we must find,

<math>~0</math>

<math>~=</math>

<math>~2x dx + 2q^2y dy + 2p^2z dz \, .</math>

See Also

• Direction Cosines

© 2014 - 2021 by Joel E. Tohline |   H_Book Home   |   YouTube   | Appendices: | Equations | Variables | References | Ramblings | Images | myphys.lsu | ADS | Recommended citation:   Tohline, Joel E. (2021), The Structure, Stability, & Dynamics of Self-Gravitating Fluids, a (MediaWiki-based) Vistrails.org publication, https://www.vistrails.org/index.php/User:Tohline/citation