PHY6346: Electromagnetic Theory I
This course is the first semester of a two semester graduate level course on
Classical electromagnetism. I will be assuming all in the class have
mastered electricity and magnetism as taught at the advanced undergraduate
level. We shall therefore take Maxwell's equations as a given,
and concentrate on their applications to explaining a wide range
of physical phenomena. A major goal of the course is to develop
systematic mathematical methods for the solution of the equations
in advanced contexts, and in a way that will be useful in all areas
of theoretical physics. Our aim in the first semester is
to cover most of the material in the first seven chapters of Jackson.
Below are links to course information, a syllabus, a convention
and formula sheet. As the course develops, I hope to put
my lecture notes in a form that can be posted here.
Required text:
Course Information:
My email address is:
Office hours: MW period 9 (4-5pm), NPB 2069 and by appointment
Our grader is Vaibhav Tewari
email: vaibhavtewari@gmail.com
Office hour: M period 10 (5-6pm), NPB 1224
Announcements
- For students interested in high energy physics: there is a
high energy theory students group journal club every Tuesday at 4:30
in NPB 2165.
- Lecture notes updated 9/3/09, sign errors in Eq 42,43 fixed.
- Problem set 3 posted, 9/7/09, Solution Set 1 posted, 9/8/09
- Problem set 4 posted, lecture notes updated, 9/14/09,
- Solution set 2 posted, 9/15/09, error in 4d) corrected 9/16/09
- Problem set 5 posted, 9/21/09, Solution Set 3 posted 9/22/09
- Lecture notes updated, 9/24/09, 9/25/09
- Because the last two problems (18 and 19) of Set 5 depend
on material not yet covered in class, they will be incorporated in Set 6
and won't be due until Set 6 is due.
- Problem set 6 posted, 9/27/09
- In class on Monday, 9/28/09, we will discuss
the date of our midterm. It will be an in-class closed book exam on a day
free of exams in classical and quantum mechanics.
- After class discussion, we have selected Monday 26 October
for our midterm exam. There will be a normal homework asignment due
on 19 October, but none due on 26 October.
- Solution Set 4 posted, 9/29/09
- Lecture notes updated, 10/2/09. Note that the recursion relations
for ordinary Bessel functions (J,N,H) eq(133) need to be modified for the
I,K Bessel functions eq(134). (In the older notes, no distinction was
made for the different cases.) Also, some typos have been found and corrected.
- Problem Set 7 posted, 10/4/09, Solution Set 5 posted 10/6/09
- Please note that the notation in the first problem of
set 7 was inadvertently reversed compared to the class discussion (the roles
of z and w have been switched!).
- Problem Set 8 posted 12 October 2009. There will be no homework
assigned next Monday due to the midterm scheduled for Monday 26 October.
- Solution Set 6 posted and lecture notes updated, 10/14/09
- The midterm exam will be given Monday 26 October 2009 during
the regular class period. Material covered will be Jackson Chapters 1-4,
lectures through Monday 19 October 2009, and Problem Sets 1-8. There will be
no problems on the midterm involving Bessel functions.
A sheet of useful formulae
will be printed on the exam and you may peruse
it here.
- Solution Set 7 posted, 10/20/09
- Problem Set 9 posted and lecture notes updated, 22 October 2009.
- Solution Set 8 posted, 10/28/09
- Problem Set 10 posted, 1 November 2009.
- Lecture notes updated, 4 November 2009.
- Please note that I have added commentary on
problem 33 (J,5.18) of Problem Set 10, which reduces the amount of work
required for full credit.
- Problem Set 11 posted, 8 November 2009.
- By popular request the last two problems of Problem Set 10 are
hereby moved to Problem Set 11. Only the first two are due today. Problem
Set 11 now has 5 problems and is still due next Monday (16 November 2009).
- Solution Set 9 posted, 10 November 2009.
- Please note that I have revised the hints for problem 34
(Jackson 5.23), which is now the first problem of set 11: It is much
easier to get the force, which the image cylinder exerts on the original one,
by regarding each magnetized cylinder as a stack of current loops
instead of as a pair of oppositely charged disks. Unfortunately,
my original suggestion leads to much nastier integrals! My apologies.
- Lecture notes updated, 13 November 2009.
- For help with the mathematical aspects
of this course I recommend the book Mathematics for Physicists
by Dennery and Krzywicki. For properies of spencial functions
I find Abramowitz and Stegun very useful, and for tables of integrals,
Gradshteyn and Ryzhik. All of these books are listed in Jackson's
bibliography, pp785-790.
- Problem Set 12 posted, 16 November 2009.
- Solution Set 10 posted, 19 November 2009. There will
be a mathematical methods help session following our class
on Friday 20 November.
- Problem Set 13 posted and lecture notes updated, 21 November 2009.
Homework Assignments
In the homework assignments, I will refer to problems in
Jacksons's book by prefixing the problem number with J.
- Problem Set 1, due 31 August 2009,
Solution Set 1
- Problem Set 2, due 9 September 2009,
Solution Set 2
- Problem Set 3, due 14 September 2009,
Solution Set 3
- Problem Set 4, due 21 September 2009,
Solution Set 4
- Problem Set 5, due 28 September 2009,
Solution Set 5
- Problem Set 6, due 5 October 2009,
Solution Set 6
- Problem Set 7, due 12 October 2009,
Solution Set 7
- Problem Set 8, due 19 October 2009,
Solution Set 8
- Problem Set 9, due 2 November 2009,
Solution Set 9
- Problem Set 10, due 9 November 2009,
Solution Set 10
- Problem Set 11, due 16 November 2009,
Solution Set 11
- Problem Set 12, due 23 November 2009,
Solution Set 12
- Problem Set 13, due 30 November 2009,
Solution Set 13
Information on Examinations
The final exam is scheduled for 18 December, 12:30-2:30 pm.
In grading the midterm (26 October) and final exams,
points will be deducted for errors in
calculation and logic. Both exams will be closed book.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
- T. S. Eliot