Physics 511 Spring 2025

Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of New Mexico

Electrodynamics

Instructor: Prof. Ivan Deutsch

Lectures: Tues&Thurs. 9:30-10:45, PAIS 1140

Problem Session: Fri. 9:00-9:50, PAIS 1140

Office Hours: Wed. 1:00-2:00, PAIS 2500

TA: Alejandro Garcia, agarcia2001@unm.edu

Office Hours: Wed. 9:00-9:50, PAIS 1140

On this Page:

• General Information
• Syllabus
• Lecture Schedule
• Problem Sets

General Information

Recommended Text:

• Classical Electrodynamics, by J. D. Jackson 3rd edition
  • This is THE standard text. The authority on statics, but less so in dynamics.

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.
• 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.

Grading:

• Problem Sets: 40%
• Two Take-Home Exams 40%
• Final Exam (In class): 20%

Problem sets will be distributed in class, about once a week. Assignments will be due on Thursday via email to Alejandro or in his mailbox in PAIS by 5:00 PM.

Tentative Syllabus

I Review Electro- and Magneto- quasistatics (5 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 weeks)

A. The wave equation

B. Plane wave propagation in vacuum, dielectrics, conductors

C. Dispersion and pulse propagation

D. Kramers-Kronig relations

E. Metamaterails, neagitve index of refraction, etc.

III Radiation by Nonrelativistic Charges (4 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

Lecture Schedule

Problem Sets