PHYS 532: Classical Electrodynamics


Syllabus

Course Instructor

Anthony Chan (Professor)
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Herman Brown Hall 364
Phone: 713-348-2531
Email: aac@rice.edu

Office Hours: I am available at most times during the week, but I recommend phoning or emailing first to confirm that I will be in the office.

General Information

Course Prerequisite: PHYS 302 Intermediate Electrodynamics, or equivalent

Credit: 3 semester hours

Meeting Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday; 11:00am-11:50am

Classroom: Space Science 106

Format: A lecture course with problem sets, a mid-term exam, and an end-of-term exam. There will be no final exam.

Homework and Grades

Grading Weights: Homework: 50%
Mid-Term Exam: 25%
End-of-Term Exam: 25%

Homework will be assigned once a week, and will be usually be due at the beginning of class one week after assignment. Homework sets will be distributed in class and they will also be available from the PHYS 532 web page.

Homework Policy: Students are encouraged to discuss the problems with their classmates and with the instructor, but they must write up their homework solutions independently.

Late Policy: The grade for late homework will be multiplied by a decaying exponential with a time constant of five days. Late homework must be given to the grader (not to the professor) with the date and time written on the front page.

Any student with a disability requiring accomodations in this class is encouraged to contact the instructor after class. Additionally, students should contact the Disabled Student Services office in the Ley Student Center.

Textbooks

Required: L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, The Classical Theory of Fields, Course of Theoretical Physics, volume 2, fourth edition, Pergamon Press, 1990.

Recommended: J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, third edition, J. Wiley and Sons, 1999.

Course Content

  1. Foundations of Special Relativity

  2. Relativistic Mechanics

  3. Charges in Electromagnetic Fields

  4. Electromagnetic Field Equations

  5. Constant Electromagnetic Fields

  6. Electromagnetic Waves

  7. Fields of Moving Charges

  8. Radiation of Electromagnetic Waves
More details of the course content are given here.


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