spring semester 2009M,W,F 11:00-11:50 in 2223 Chamberlin, Final Exam 10:05 AM tuesday May 12 2009 Office hours:MW 2 pm, or by appointment, or just stop by. Mark Saffman
|
|
Course listing in UW timetable.
Course catalog description: Theoretical Physics-Electrodynamics. 3 cr. Electrostatics, magnetostatics, Green functions,boundary value problems, macroscopic media, Maxwell's equations, the stress tensor and conservation laws,
electromagnetic waves, wave propagation, dispersion, waveguides, radiation, multipole expansions, diffraction and scattering,
special relativity, covariance of Maxwell's equations, Lienard-Wiechert potentials, radiation by accelerated charges.
P: Physics 322 or equiv.
The course textbook is J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics 3rd edition, errata
Syllabus (updated april.20)
Books on electrodynamics (updated february.3)
Homework assignments and solutions are available from the physics library course reserves.
Homework is an important part of the course and accounts for a large fraction of your grade. Working problems is part of learning physics, and will also give you practice in applying mathematical methods. You are encouraged to use the math resources provided in the notes and links below.
Homework will typically be given out on friday and due the following friday. You are welcome to work together on homework, however you must turn in your own solutions - not a Xerox copy of someone else's. Late homework will not be accepted unless prior approval has been given. Solutions will be posted on the course reserves.
Notes on various topics:
Physical constants (updated 2008.september.2) if you want all the details here are the CODATA 2006 recommended values
Conversion between Gaussian and SI units (version 1.1 updated 2009.january.20)
Mathematical formulae (version 1.34 updated 2009.february.10) (some additions plus error in an associated Legendre polynomial corrected)
Tutorial on Fourier transforms
Note that this tutorial uses a different convention than us. The prefactor in one-dimension is 1/(2pi) for the inverse transform (k->x) and just 1 for the forward transform (x->k). We are using a symmetric form where the prefactor is 1/sqrt(2 pi) in each direction.
Some interesting papers related to the course:
Feynman's derivation of Maxwell's equations
Electromagnetic momentum:
Queensland group 2007 (note erratum at end)
Metamaterials:
Veselago left handed materials
Links to useful information:
Digital library of mathematical functions
Abramowitz & Stegun Handbook of Mathematical Functions
Matrix solver for linear equations on the web