Phys 721, Graduate electromagnetism I (Spring 2023)

Course info

• Syllabus in PDF format
• Class schedule: MWF 0900–1000, in Lewis 109
• Office hours: Wednesday 1730, Lewis 205
• Professor: Leo C. Stein (he/him; you can call me “Leo” or “Dr. Stein”)
• Email: lcstein@olemiss.edu
• Office: 205 Lewis Hall

Accessing lectures and homeworks will be through Google Classroom. If you are in this course and do not have access to the virtual classroom, email Leo ASAP!

Text

There is no required textbook for this course. However, for your own studies and reference, I recommend getting a standard text. There are lots of options, e.g.

• Schwinger et al., Classical Electrodynamics.
• Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics. I list some additional references:
• Wald, Advanced Classical Electromagnetism. Better treatment of point particles, the self-force, and some other topics than most texts.
• Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics. An undergraduate textbook but very easy to follow.
• Thorne and Blandford, Modern Classical Physics. Very comprehensive (~1500 pages) covering much more than electrodynamics. Includes intro to magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics. PDFs of pre-publication notes currently available here.
• Sturrock, Plasma Physics. Specialist text, but starts from scratch and I found it easy to follow.
• PDFs available online from Russell Herman (UNC Wilmington); David Tong (Cambridge); Philip Nelson (UPenn); Richard Fitzpatrick (UT Austin); Alan Guth (MIT)

Course goals and learning outcome

This is the second half of a standard course on electromagnetism in the undergraduate curriculum for physics.

Key concepts (time permitting): • special relativity and index gymnastics, • covariant and potential formulation of electromagnetism, • Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of electromagnetism, • Noether’s theorem and conservation laws, • Green’s function solutions, • multipole expansion, • radiation, • partial wave decomposition, • scattering, • EM fields in media

Goals: Understanding of electro- and magneto- statics and dynamics; relevance to physical systems; strengthen tools of vector/tensor calculus; applying multivariate/tensor calculus and special mathematical tools (e.g.\ Green’s functions and the multipole expansion). These goals are to enhance students’ mathematical reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical reasoning.

Evaluation

• Grade type: Letter grade A–F
• Grade ranges: (subject to change)
  • A 88% and up
  • B 75–87%
  • C 65–74%
  • D 55–64%
  • F <55%
• Grade breakdown: (subject to change)
  • 50% Homework
  • 20% Midterm
  • 30% Final

Homework, tests, and final exam

Homework assignments will be announced via the course web site, and they must be turned in by 11:59PM on the due date. Late homework will be penalized 20% per day (exceptions and extensions permitted with good cause). Homeworks and exams should be submitted as PDFs or JPGs via the course web site. Homework must be easy to read: please clearly write down your name and the problem set number, do not use a red pen. The midterm and final exam will be open-book and open-notes, and a calculator will be permitted.

Attendance

There is no strict attendance requirement, but you are strongly advised to attend class. Attendance has a strong correlation with performance. I recommend that you read the book sections in advance and come ready to participate. If you miss an exam or cannot turn in homework, please inform me beforehand and get a doctor’s note if applicable. Absences from tests count as zeros, unless they are justified. If you must be absent during a test for a University sponsored event, you must discuss this with me before the test date.

Academic Integrity

Violations of the University’s policy of academic integrity will result in a failing grade and other disciplinary actions. A student with a documented case of plagiarism or cheating in this course will receive a failing grade for the course and may face disciplinary action by the University, including expulsion.

In particular, do not turn in problem set solutions copied from online or a solutions manual. Copying solutions does nothing to enhance your learning. If I see this then you will get an automatic 0 for the problem set. It if happens more than once I will report it to the chair of the department.

Disability Access and Inclusion

The University of Mississippi is committed to the creation of inclusive learning environments for all students. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your full inclusion and participation, or to accurate assessment of your achievement, please contact the course instructor as soon as possible. Barriers may include, but are not necessarily limited to, timed exams and in-class assignments, difficulty with the acquisition of lecture content, inaccessible web content, and the use of non-captioned or non-transcribed video and audio files. If you are approved through SDS, you must log in to your Rebel Access portal at https://sds.olemiss.edu to request approved accommodations. If you are NOT approved through SDS, you must contact Student Disability Services at 662-915-7128 so the office can: 1) determine your eligibility for accommodations, 2) disseminate to your instructors a Faculty Notification Letter, 3) facilitate the removal of barriers, and 4) ensure you have equal access to the same opportunities for success that are available to all students.

Other

If a change in the syllabus becomes necessary during the semester, it will be discussed in class and then posted on the course website. The course website will also contain up-to-date information on the class schedule, homework assignments and complementary material.

Schedule

See the syllabus PDF for the latest updates to the schedule.