Theory of Potential Field Methods (Potentialtheorie)

Vorlesung "Theory of Potential Field Methods"

The lecture on potential theory provides an introduction to potential fields arising, e.g., in gravity, magnetics and resistivity methods. Departing from a basic understanding of the potential of a point source, elaborated density distributions are introduced. Potential distributions caused by non-trivial two- and three-dimensional sources are studied. An extensive introduction to spherical harmonics will be provided with a focus on Earth's magnetic field. The theory of boundary value problems will be studied on the basis of the Poisson problem arising in DC resistivity applications. During the exercises the students are instructed to implement Python routines to solve numerical simulation problems.