Angular momentum of the EM field of rotating sphere

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on calculating the angular momentum of the electromagnetic field for a rotating sphere, defined by the integral of the electromagnetic angular momentum density. It highlights the need to consider two cases: inside the sphere (r < R) and outside the sphere (r > R). The key point is that there is a single solution for the total angular momentum, which combines contributions from both regions. The integration approach is clarified, indicating that the integral can be split for the outside region but does not need to be split for the inside region. Overall, the integration encompasses the entire field, confirming that both cases contribute to the total angular momentum.
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The angular momentum of the electromagnetic field is defined as,

$$
\vec{L_{em}} = \int \vec{l_{em}} d^3r.
$$

To solve this for a rotating sphere I must consider the cases where r < R and r > R.

When I did this problem I thought that there would be two solutions, one for both cases; however, it turns out that there is one solution,

$$
\vec{L_{em}} = \int \vec{l_{em}}_{(r<R)} \, d^3r + \int \vec{l_{em}}_{(r>R)} \, d^3r.
$$

Can anyone tell me why that is? Conceptually I do not understand what is going here.
 
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Also for the integration, would I integrate the r < R case from \int_0^R = \int_0^r + \int_r^R and the case of r > R, \int_R^{\infty}?

Or would I simply just integrate \int_0^R for both cases, without splitting the integral.
 
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I suppose when calculating the field angular momentum, we do not need to split the r < R integral \int_0^R. I also understand now that we are integrating over all space or over the entire field.
 
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