Electricity & Magnetism III

Electricity & Magnetism III (Fall '10, Spring '12)


This course will deal with various topics in electricity & magnetism, incl. e.g. waves and radiation, some optics, special relativity.

Books (text+reference): Griffiths, Landau&Lifshitz (vol.2, Classical theory of fields), Jackson, and others.

Course outline (broadly) --- reviewing EM: Maxwell eqns, Poynting's theorem, potentials, the wave equation and solutions in cartesian, cylindrical, spherical coordinate systems (and related boundary value potential problems, Laplace's eqn etc). Electromagnetic wave propagation: reflection, refraction, Fresnel eqns, waves impinging on conducting surfaces etc. Optics -- eikonal approximation and geometrical optics, polarization and Stokes parameters, interference, diffraction (Fraunhofer, Fresnel). Special relativity, relativistic mechanics. EM fields in special relativity. Radiation and accelerating charges.

Spr '12 course outline (rough): reviewing EM (Maxwell eqns, Poynting theorem, potentials, etc), Maxwell equations and inertial frames, special relativity, Lorentz transformations etc, relativistic dynamics, electromagnetic fields and relativity, the field strength tensor, energy momentum tensor etc, Lienard-Wiechert potentials, radiation and accelerating charges.

Regular (weekly) assignments (incorporated into class): 5%

Midsem exam, 35%,

Short exam (or long assignment) -- likely 10%,

Endsem exam, 50%.

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