Physics 511 Spring 2006

Electrodynamics

University of New Mexico

Department of Physics and Astronomy

General Information

Syllabus

Lecture Schedule

Problem Sets

Links

General Information

Lecture: Physics and Astronomy, Room 184, 11:00-12:15.

Instructor: Prof. Ivan Deutsch

Phys/Astro Room 24, Phone: 277-1502

email: ideutsch@unm.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday, Thrusday 1:00-2:00 (or by appointment)

Teaching Assistant: Sergio Boixo

email: boixo@unm.edu

Grading:

Problem Sets: 35%

There will be approximately 10 probelm sets due Thurs. @5:00 in grader's mailbox.

Midterm Exams (Take home): 40%

Midterm 1: Feb 28-March 2

Midterm 2: Apr. 18-April 20

Final Exam (In class): 25%

Recommended Texts:

• Classical Electrodynamics, by J. D. Jackson 3rd edition
  • This is THE standard text. The authority on statics, but less so in dynamics.
• Classical Field Theory, by F. E. Low
  • A fairly new book, and the modern equivalent of Landau and Lifshitz.

Other Texts:

• The Classical Theory of Fields, by L. D. Landau and Lifshitz
  • They must have been short of paper in the Soviet Union when this book was written, but if you can decompress it, there's lots of good stuff.
• Electromagnetic Theory, by J. A. Stratton
• Classical Electricity and Magnetism , by W. K. H. Panofsky and Phillips
  • Two somewhat old fashion, but good texts.
• Introduction to Electrodynamics, by David Griffiths
  • An upper division undergraduate text (used in Phys. 405-406). Very clear.
• Electricity and Magnetism (Second Edition), by E. M. Purcell
  • One of the most beautiful "elementary" treatments, but still a classic.

I. Review Electro- and Magneto- quasistatics (6 weeks)

A. Mathematical Review - Vector calculus and tensors

B. Electrostatics - Gauss' Law, Poisson's and Laplace's equation, multipoles

C. Magnetostatics - Ampère, Biot-Savart, vector potential, multipoles

D. Faraday's Law and Maxwell's Equations

E. Poynting's Theorem, Maxwell Stress-Tensor, Conservation Laws

F. Macroscopic Maxwell Equations

II. Electromagnetic Waves (4.5 weeks)

A. The wave equation

B. Plane wave propagation in vacuum, dielectrics, conductors

C. Dispersion and pulse propagation

D. Kramers-Kronig relations

III. Radiation by Nonrelativistic Charges (2 weeks)

A. The potential formulation of Maxwell's equations; Gauge transformations

B. Green's functions and retarded-time potentials

C. Multipole expansions

D. Electric dipole, quadrapole, and magnetic dipole radiation

E. Scattering (scalar theory)

IV Special Relativity (2 weeks)

A. Review: Lorentz transformations, space-time diagrams, relativistic kinematics

B. Transformation of the fields - Magnetism as a relativistic phenomenon

C. Tensors in Minkowski space

D. Covariant formulation of Maxwell's equations

V Radiation by Relativistic Charges (0.5 weeks)

A. Liénard-Wiechert Potentials; Field of a uniformly moving point charge

B. Radiation from a relativistic, accelerating point charge

C. Synchrotron radiation and Bremsstrahlung

Problem Sets

• Links

• Gallery of Electromagnetic Personalities (A Vignette History of Electromagnetics)

• Hyperphysics E&M