Lectures: Tue. and Thu., 9:30-11:00 AM in the multimedia room of the Physics Department
Problem sets: Roughly one every 10 days, about 10 in all. The problem sets need not be submitted for grading.
Evaluation: 20% Monthly exam I, 30% Monthly exam II (midterm exam), 20% Monthly exam III, and 30% Monthly exam IV (final exam)
Course Outline: Maxwell's equations, divergence and curl of electric and magnetic fields, Helmholtz theorem. Electrostatics, Laplace's and Poisson's equations, uniqueness theorem, conductors, capacitance, method of images, solutions of Laplace's equations in different geometries, Green's functions in electrostatics, multipole expansion, dielectrics. Magnetostatics, magnetic vector potential, magnetic materials, ferromagnetism, magnetic work. Time varying fields, Faraday's law, induction, energy and momentum of electromagnetic fields, Poynting vector, conservation laws. Electromagnetic waves, wave optics, polarization, Fresnel equations, waveguides. Radiation from accelarating charges, Lienard-Wiechert potentials, radiation reaction. Special theory of relativity, Lorentz invariance, Maxwell's equations in covariant form, electromagnetic field tensor, gauge invariance. Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulation of classical electrodynamics.
Recommended textbooks:
1) Introduction to Electrodynamics by David J. Griffiths
2) Classical Electrodynamics by J. D. Jackson
3) Classical Electricity and Magnetism by W. Panofsky and M. Phillips
4) The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. II by R. P. Feynman
5) Electricity and Magnetism (Berekeley Physics Course Vol. 2) by E. M. Purcell
Problem Sets:
PH 206 course webpage from 2012