Good morning,
I have a question concerning the following terminologies : potential and energy.
Let $\mu$ be a finite Borel measure on $\mathbb{C}$ with compact support. We define its potential as the function $p_{\mu} \colon \mathbb{C}\to [-\infty,\infty)$ : $p_{\mu}(z) = \int_{\mathbb{C}}\log|z-w|d\mu(w)$ for $z\in\mathbb{C}.$
Then, we define the energy $I(\mu)$ by $I(\mu) = \int_{\mathbb{C}}\int_{\mathbb{C}} \log|z-w|d\mu(z)d\mu(w).$
My question : what is the meaning of these terminologies? Does anyone have a reference for these things?
I don't know much physics, so if someone answers this question with physics knowledge, please try to use very elementary examples in physics.
Thanks in advance,
Duc Anh