Stony Brook University, Department of Physics and Astronomy

 

CLASSICAL ELECTRODYNAMICS
(PHY 505/506)

Fall 2010/Spring 2011

 

A. PHY 506 (Spring 2011) Logistics

Instructor:                              Konstantin K. Likharev

                                                E-mail: klikharev@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

                                                Office: Room B-135

                                                Office hours: Thursday 1:00 to 2:30 pm

 

Grader:                                   Sujan Dabholkar

                                                E-mail: dsujan@gmail.com

                                                Office: Room D-118

                                                Office hours: Monday 3:00 to 5:00 pm

                                               

Web site:                                http://mysbfiles.stonybrook.edu/~klikharev/505-506/F10-S11/

 

Recommended textbooks:      J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd ed. , Wiley, 1999

                                                L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, The Classical Theory of Fields, 4th ed. , Pergamon, 1975

                                                L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Electrodynamics of Continuous Media, 2nd ed., Reed, 1984


Lectures:                                
Time: Monday-Wednesday-Friday 10:40-11:35 am

                                                Room: P-130

           

Homeworks:                           Weekly (with just a few exceptions); submission delay penalty: 10% per day

 

Exams:                                    Midterm: Friday March 18, lecture time

                                                Final:  Wednesday May 18, 11:15 am – 1:45 pm

                                                (Review session Tuesday May 17, 5:00 – 7:00 pm, Rm. B-131)

                                                Both exams: lecture room, books open

 

Final grade components:        Homeworks:    15%

                                                Midterm:          25%

                                                Final exam:      60%

 

 

B. Preliminary Syllabus and Lecture Notes

1. Electric Charge Interaction Lecture notes

            The Coulomb Law, electric field. The Gauss Law. Electrostatic potential, the Poisson and Laplace equations. Energy of an arbitrary charge distribution.

           

2. Charges and Conductors Lecture notes

            Electric field screening, macroscopic boundary conditions. Self- and mutual capacitances, capacitance matrix, energy of an arbitrary system of conductors. Methods of solution of the Laplace and Poisson equations: special coordinates, conformal mapping, images (plane and sphere), Green's functions, variable separation (for rectangular, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates), numerical methods.

 

3. Polarization of Dielectrics Lecture notes

            Multipole expansion, dipole field and its energy. Dielectrics: physics of electric polarization, vector fields E, P, and D. The potential equation, boundary conditions, methods of solution. The Clausius-Mossotti (Lorentz-Lorenz) formula. Electric field energy in dielectrics.

 

4. DC Current Lecture notes

            Continuity equation, the Ohm law, boundary conditions for current distribution, the “conductivity hierarchy”, power dissipation.

 

5. Magnetostatics Lecture notes

            The Ampere law, magnetic field, vector potential, scalar potential. Field of thin wires, self- and mutual inductances, inductance matrix, magnetic field energy. The multipole expansion, field and energy of a magnetic dipole. Magnetics: physics, vector fields B, M, and H. The potential equation and boundary conditions, methods of solution. Ferromagnetism: physics, soft and hard magnetics. Electrodynamics of superconductivity: physics, the London equation, field penetration depth, ideal diamagnetic approximation, nonlinear effects.  

 

6. Toward the Maxwell Equations Lecture notes

            Electromagnetic induction: the Faraday law, the quasi-stationary approximation, the skin effect. The Josephson and AB effects. Displacement currents, the Maxwell hypothesis. The Maxwell equations for fields and potentials, energy and power flow of electromagnetic field, the Pointing theorem.

 

7. Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Lecture notes

            Plane waves in free space: the wave equation, transverse EM waves, their velocity, impedance, polarization, and energy. Plane waves in media: the dispersion relation, phase and group velocity. The simplest mechanisms of dispersion, plasma frequency, the Kramers-Kronig relations.  Reflection at normal incidence. Reflection vs. refraction: the Brewster angle, total internal reflection, the Fabry-Pérot resonator.  Metallic waveguides, optical fibers. Resonators. Power losses: attenuation and the Q factor.

 

8. Radiation, Scattering, Interference, and Diffraction Lecture notes

            Retarded potentials. Electric dipole radiation, the Larmore formula, short antennas. Scattering: the Born approximation, blue sky. Interference and diffraction. The Huygens principle, the Kirchhoff theorem. Diffraction in the Fraunhofer and Fresnel diffraction limits. Diffraction grating as a spatial Fourier transform. Magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole radiation.

 

9. Special Relativity Lecture notes

            Kinematics: the situation by 1905, Einstein postulates, the Lorentz transform. Length contraction, time dilation, the Doppler effect, speed transformation, relativistic momentum and energy. 4-vectors and tensors: definition, invariance, covariance and contravariance, scalar product, the metric tensor.  Maxwell equations in the 4-form: 4-vectors of the current and potential, field tensors, field transformation. Field of a uniformly moving charge.  Dynamics in the EM field: the dynamics equation, motion in uniform E and B fields. Action and energy, adiabatic invariants. Particle motion in nonuniform magnetic fields. Analytical mechanics of the EM field.

 

10. Radiation by Relativistic Charges Lecture notes

            The Liénard-Wiechert potentials, their application to the uniform motion and linear acceleration. Synchrotron radiation: total power, angular distribution, time and frequency distribution. Bremsstrahlung: low-frequency approximation, finite frequencies, the Coulomb collision case, quantum corrections (the result only). Collision energy losses: the Bohr formula, the Bethe formula (the result only), the Fermi theory of density effects. The Cherenkov radiation: physics, spatial dependence, time and frequency structure. Transition radiation (the idea only). Radiation’s back-action: radiation damping, the Abraham-Lorentz force, field mass, internal contradictions of classical electrodynamics.

 

 

Lecture Note Appendices:

 

Selected Mathematical Formulas

Selected Physical Constants

 

C. Other Course Materials

PHY 505:

Initial self-test

 

Homework 1 with solutions

Homework 2 with solutions

Homework 3 with solutions

Homework 4 with solutions

Homework 5 with solutions

Homework 6 with solutions

Optional problems Set 1 with solutions

Midterm exam with solutions

Homework 7 with solutions

Homework 8 with solutions

Homework 9 with solutions

Homework 10 with solutions

Homework 11 with solutions

Homework 12 with solutions

Optional problems Set 2 with solutions

Final exam with solutions

 

PHY 506:

Homework 1 with solutions

Homework 2 with solutions

Homework 3 with solutions

Homework 4 with solutions

Homework 5 with solutions

Optional problems Set 1 with solutions

Midterm exam with solutions

Homework 6 with solutions

Homework 7 with solutions

Homework 8 with solutions

Homework 9 with solutions

Optional problems Set 2 with solutions

Final exam with solutions

 

 

D. University-mandated statements

Americans with Disabilities Act: If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services, ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, room128, (631) 632-6748. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.

 Academic Integrity: Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report and suspected instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/ .

 Critical Incident Management: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to learn.