| Title: |
Geometric properties of the magnetic field outside a magnetized rectangular prism |
| Authors: |
Hemingway, D J |
| Contributors: |
Jackson School of Geosciences,University of Texas at Austin |
| Source: |
RAS Techniques and Instruments ; volume 5 ; ISSN 2752-8200 |
| Publisher Information: |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Description: |
Characterization of crustal magnetic anomalies can yield valuable insights into the current state and history of a planet’s interior. Such characterization often involves inversion modelling, which relies on mathematical expressions that relate the observable magnetic field to the geometry and magnetization of the obscured source bodies. Here, I revisit the magnetized rectangular prism – a natural building block for crustal source modelling. Although the core expressions can be found in previous work, I offer a more generalized, matrix-based formulation for computing the 3D vector magnetic field while also emphasizing a geometric interpretation that can be helpful for building physical intuition. This approach allows for arbitrary prism orientation and magnetization direction while separating the roles of the source geometry and the magnetization vector. This separation clarifies the mathematical relationships and can improve computational efficiency in inversion studies. I focus on the relationships between source geometry, magnetization direction, and the resulting magnetic field structure in both two and three dimensions, highlighting symmetries, simplifications, and diagnostic features that can aid in the interpretation of survey data. The accompanying open-source Matlab software (MagTools) provides a transparent implementation of this framework. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1093/rasti/rzag015 |
| DOI: |
10.1093/rasti/rzag015/67243281/rzag015.pdf |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1093/rasti/rzag015; https://academic.oup.com/rasti/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/rasti/rzag015/67243281/rzag015.pdf; https://academic.oup.com/rasti/article-pdf/doi/10.1093/rasti/rzag015/67243281/rzag015.pdf |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.4CFAD414 |
| Database: |
BASE |