SyllabusElectricity and magnetismInstructor: Jens Nöckel. Location: Willamette 318. Times: MWF 11:00 - 11:50 am.You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.Albert Einstein Text
The course will use the online textbook by Prerequisites
Topics
DescriptionThe course is primarily intended for students majoring in physics and is a continuation of PHYS 412. This intermediate-level course makes use of differential and integral calculus in three dimensions. Several other mathematical techniques will also be used: in particular, functions of complex variables and differential equations. PHYS 412 mainly dealt with electricity and magnetism in free space and in the presence of conductors, focusing on Maxwell's equations and their solutions with the help of integral theorems and (vector) potentials.PHYS 413 built on this knowledge to describe electric and magnetic fields in materials, which leads to practical applications in electronic circuits. In this context, fundamentals of the interaction between matter and fields are introduced, and conservation laws are formulated. Many devices and circuits can be understood under quasi-static conditions where the relativistic aspects of Maxwell's equations do not play a large role, and the central quantities are capacitance, inductance and resistance. PHYS 422 is divided into two parts: In the first part, we go from transmission lines (an application of circuit concepts such as "impedance") back to the general Maxwell equations and its radiating solutions in different media. In the second part, a main goal is to understand radiation and conservation laws for moving charges in free space. This will require a detailed study of the theory of relativity, beginning with Lorentz invariance and ending with the tensor formulation of physical quantities. Text
The course will use the online textbook by Richard Fitzpatrick, You may also buy the bound version of the book, but that is not required. Grading
Homework must be turned in on the due date at the beginning of the lecture. Grades will be determined by the following weighting.
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