Electrodynamics (PHY 311)

Sample lecture schedule #1

(based on 25 lectures each of duration 75 minutes).
  • Lecture 1: Review of undergrad EM, part 1: electrical charge, electric field and potential, current, magnetic field and vector potential, and electromagnetic energy.
  • Lecture 2: Review of undergrad EM, part 2: Faraday’s law, Maxwell’s equation in vacuum, electromagnetic waves, and Poynting’s Theorem.
  • Lecture 3: Special relativity 1: Background review - Space-time, Lorentz transformations, time dilation, length contraction, and velocity transformation.
  • Lecture 4: Special relativity 2: Review of Cartesian tensors, four-vectors and four-tensors, metric tensor.
  • Lecture 5: Special relativity 3: Four-vector calculus.
  • Lecture 6: Special relativity 4: Thomas precession and spin.
  • Lecture 7: Covariant electrodynamics 1: Four-tensor electromagnetic field, transformation of fields, electric and magnetic fields of a moving charge.
  • Lecture 8: Covariant electrodynamics 2: Lagrangian for charged particle in a vector potential, Lagrangian density for the electromagnetic field.
  • Lecture 9: Covariant electrodynamics 3: Gauge transformations, stress-energy tensor, and conservation laws.
  • Lecture 10: Electrostatics 1: Multipole expansion of the electrostatic field.
  • Lecture 11: Electrostatics 2: Boundary value problems (BVPs) – systems of conductors; coefficients of capacitance; energetics.
  • Lecture 12: Electrostatics 3: BVP solution methods - Method of images; electrostatic screening; fields near tips and edges.
  • Lecture 13: Electrostatics 4: BVP solution methods: Green function methods.
  • Lecture 14: Magnetostatics: Magnetic scalar potential, energetics.
  • Lecture 15: Dielectric and magnetic materials (phenomenological treatment): polarization, boundary conditions, macroscopic form of Maxwell’s equations.
  • Lecture 16: Faraday’s law, coefficients of inductance, magnetic diffusion.
  • Lecture 17: Electromagnetic waves 1: plane waves in vacuum, energy and momentum transport, polarization.
  • Lecture 18: Electromagnetic waves 2: plane waves in materials of index n > 1; reflection and refraction at oblique incidence – Fresnel equations.
  • Lecture 19: Electromagnetic waves 3: elementary theory of frequency-dependent dielectric function.
  • Lecture 20: Electromagnetic radiation 1: Lienard-Wiechert potentials and fields.
  • Lecture 21: Electromagnetic radiation 2: Electric dipole radiation; Larmour formula.
  • Lecture 22: Electromagnetic radiation 3: Multipole radiation; magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole.
  • Lecture 23: Electromagnetic radiation 4: Radiation from relativistic charges.
  • Lecture 24: Special topics.
  • Lecture 25: Special topics.
Special topics might include, e.g., reflection from metallic surfaces, surface plasma waves, Bremstrahlung, or synchrotron radiation.

Sample lecture schedule #2

(based on 25 lectures each of duration 75 minutes).
  • Lecture 1: Review of undergrad EM, part 1: electrical charge, electric field and potential, current, magnetic field and vector potential, and electromagnetic energy.
  • Lecture 2: Review of undergrad EM, part 2: Faraday’s law, Maxwell’s equation in vacuum, electromagnetic waves, and Poynting’s Theorem.
  • Lecture 3: Electrostatics 1: Multipole expansion of the electrostatic field.
  • Lecture 4: Electrostatics 2: Boundary value problems (BVPs) – systems of conductors; coefficients of capacitance; energetics.
  • Lecture 5: Electrostatics 3: BVP solution methods - Method of images; electrostatic screening; fields near tips and edges.
  • Lecture 6: Electrostatics 4: BVP solution methods: Green function methods.
  • Lecture 7: Magnetostatics: Magnetic scalar potential, energetics.
  • Lecture 8: Dielectric and magnetic materials (phenomenological treatment): polarization, boundary conditions, macroscopic form of Maxwell’s equations.
  • Lecture 9: Faraday’s law, coefficients of inductance, magnetic diffusion.
  • Lecture 10: Electromagnetic waves 1: plane waves in vacuum, energy and momentum transport, polarization.
  • Lecture 11: Electromagnetic waves 2: plane waves in materials of index n > 1; reflection and refraction at oblique incidence – Fresnel equations.
  • Lecture 12: Electromagnetic waves 3: elementary theory of frequency-dependent dielectric function.
  • Lecture 13: Special relativity 1: Background review - Space-time, Lorentz transformations, time dilation, length contraction, and velocity transformation.
  • Lecture 14: Special relativity 2: Review of Cartesian tensors, four-vectors and four-tensors, metric tensor.
  • Lecture 15: Special relativity 3: Four-vector calculus.
  • Lecture 16: Special relativity 4: Thomas precession and spin.
  • Lecture 17: Covariant electrodynamics 1: Four-tensor electromagnetic field, transformation of fields, electric and magnetic fields of a moving charge.
  • Lecture 18: Covariant electrodynamics 2: Lagrangian for charged particle in a vector potential, Lagrangian density for the electromagnetic field.
  • Lecture 19: Covariant electrodynamics 3: Gauge transformations, stress-energy tensor, and conservation laws.
  • Lecture 20: Electromagnetic radiation 1: Lienard-Wiechert potentials and fields.
  • Lecture 21: Electromagnetic radiation 2: Electric dipole radiation; Larmour formula.
  • Lecture 22: Electromagnetic radiation 3: Multipole radiation, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole.
  • Lecture 23: Electromagnetic radiation 4: Radiation from relativistic charges.
  • Lecture 24: Special topics
  • Lecture 25: Special topics
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