Advanced Electrodynamics and Special Relativity

6 EC

Semester 2, period 4

5092AESR6Y

Owner Bachelor Natuur- en Sterrenkunde (joint degree)
Coordinator prof. dr. Gerhard Raven
Part of Minor Natuurkunde en Sterrenkunde: Advanced Physics, year 1Exchange Programme Faculty of Science, specialisation BSc Physics and Astronomy, year 1Dubbele bachelor Wis- en Natuurkunde, year 3Bachelor Physics and Astronomy (Joint Degree), year 3

Course manual 2020/2021

Course content

Classical Electrodynamics does not only form the basis of many branches of physics, but is also the foundation for a large part of modern technology. Many topics and methods - classical mechanics, vector calculus, electricity and magnetism, and special relativity - will all come together in an elegant way. Relativistic electrodynamics provides an indispensable framework for many disciplines within physics.

Topics included are:

  • Classical theory of electromagnetic waves
  • Electromagnetic potentials and field, gauge invariance
  • Fields of moving and accelerated electric charges
  • Electromagnetic radiation, and antennas
  • Relation between Electromagnetism and Special Relativity
  • Transformation of Electromagnetic fields under Lorentz transformations
  • Covariant formulation of Electromagnetism

The course `Advanced Electrodynamics and Special Relativity' is a continuation of the second year course `Electrodynamics and Special Relativity'. As is the case for the second year, the course follows `Introduction to Electrodynamics' by D.J. Griffiths, fourth (or third) edition (ISBN 0-13-919960-8). After a short introduction and recap of the second year course, we will start at chapter 8.

Study materials

Literature

  • Compulsory textbook: D.J. Griffiths, 'Introduction to Electrodynamics’, Pearson Education, 4th edition, 2013, chapters 8-12. ISBN :8-0-321-84781-2 or ISBN :8-1-292-02142-3.

  • Recommended: J.D.Jackson, 'Classical Electrodynamics', John Wiley & Sons, 2nd edition, ISBN 0-471-43132-X.
  • Recommended: Feynman, Leighton and Sands, 'The Feynman Lectures on Physics', http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu, Volume 2, chapters 15, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31.

Objectives

  • The student will be able to discuss the many diverse aspect of the classical theory of electromagnetism.
  • The student acquires the skil to apply Maxwell’s equations in various circumstances, and solve them.
  • The student can describe correctly the classical theory of electromagnetic waves and radiation.
  • The student can explain the relation between electromagnetism and special relativity.
  • The student can apply the covariant formalism to electromagnetism, and transform electromagnetic fields under Lorentz transformations

Teaching methods

  • Hoorcollege
  • Werkcollege
  • Lecture
  • Seminar
  • Self-study

Learning activities

Activiteit

Aantal uur

Hoorcollege

28

Tentamen

3

Werkcollege

28

Zelfstudie

109

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (TER-B):

  • Each student is expected to participate actively in each component of the programme that he/she signed up for. A student that does not attend the first two seminars of a course, will be administratively removed from the seminar group. A request for reregistration for the seminars can be applied to the programme coordinator.
  • If a student cannot attend an obligatory component of a programme's component due to circumstances beyond his control, he must report in writing to the relevant teacher as soon as possible. The teacher, if necessary after consulting the study adviser, may decide to issue the student a replacing assignment.
  • It is not allowed to miss obligatory commponents of the programme if there is no case of circumstances beyond one's control.
  • In case of participating qualitatively or quantitatively insufficiently, the examiner can expel a student from further participation in the programme's component or a part of that component. Conditions for sufficient participation are set down in advance in the course manual.
  • In addition to the above mentioned rules, in the first semester of the first year a student should be present in at least 80% of the seminars. Moreover, participation to midterm tests and obligatory homework is required. If the student does not comply with these obligations, the student is expelled from the resit of this course. Students in the double Bachelor's degree programme Mathematics and Physics are exempted from this requirement. In case of personal circumstances, as described in OER-A Article A-6.4, a different study plan will be made in consultation with the study advisor.

Assessment

Item and weight Details

Final grade

1 (100%)

Tentamen

The final grade for the course will solely be based on the exam.The questions of the exam will pertain to the sections of Griffiths outlined in the schedule below, and the sections to which those sections refer.

Inspection of assessed work

The date, time and location of the inspection moment are in the DataNose timetable.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Week Monday/Tuesday Wednesday/Thursday
1  Introduction, Index Notation
appendix A Curl, Divergence, Laplacian (*)
appendix B Helmholtz' theorem (*)
7 Maxwell's equations (*)		  Energy and Momentum
8.1 Local Charge and Energy Conservation
8.2 Momentum
2

 Wave solutions (*)
9.1 Waves in One Dimension
9.2 ElectromagneticWaves in Vacuum, esp. 9.2.3, Energy and Momentum
in EM Waves
9.3.1 Electromagnetic Waves in Matter - Propagation in Linear Media
9.4.1 Electromagnetic waves in conductors

9.4.3 Frequency dependence of Permittivity

 Waves continued
9.4.1  Electromagnetic waves in conductors
9.5 Guided Waves
3  Potentials and Fields
10.1 The Potential Formulation
10.2 Continuous Distributions { Retarded Potentials		  Retarded Potential and Fields of a Moving Point Charge
10.3 Point Charges
4  Radiation
11.1.1 What is Radiation
11.1.4 Radiation from an arbitrary source
11.2.1 Point Charges		  Dipole Radiation / Point Charges
11.1.2 Electric Dipole Radiation
11.1.3 Magnetic Dipole Radiation
11.2.2 Radiation Reaction
11.2.3 The Mechanism Responsible for the Radiation Reaction
5  Special Relativity (*)
12.1: The Special Theory of Relativity
12.2: Relativistic Mechanics		  Relativistic Electrodynamics (*)
12.3 Relativistic Electrodynamics
6  Relativistic Electrodynamics
12.3 Relativistic Electrodynamics		  Relativistic Electrodynamics
12.3 Relativistic Electrodynamics
7  Review  Question time
8    Tentamen

Items indicated with a (*) have (some) overlap with the second year course.

Both Lectures and Tutorial sessions will be on zoom -- see Canvas for the relevant connection details. Due to the online nature of the course, the tutorial and lectures sessions will be mixed, eg.  instead of having 2x45 minutes lectures on Monday, followed by  2x45 minutes tutorials on Tuesday, the format will be 1x45 min lecture + 1x45 min tutorials on both Monday and Tuesday. The same holds for Wednesday/Thursday.

Tutorial Sessions

The tutorial sessions will be supervised by Cristina Sanchez-Gras (cristina.sanchez.gras@cern.ch) and Igor Kostiuk (i.kostiuk@nikhef.nl). The exercises will be announced each week on Canvas, and will mainly be taken from Griffiths (and be representative of the exam questions)

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Contact information

Coordinator

  • prof. dr. Gerhard Raven

Staff