PHY 712 Electrodynamics
General Information
This course is a one semester survey of
Electrodynamics at
the graduate level, using the
textbook: Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd edition, by
John David Jackson (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999) -- "JDJ".
(link to errata for early printings)
Note that it is necessary to get the third edition in order
to synchronize with the class lectures and homework.
The more recent textbook: Modern Electrodynamics, by
Andrew Zangwill (Cambridge University Press, 2013) will be used
as a supplement.
Adapting to the challenges of these unprecedented times, this course is
designed as "online",
adjusting to the best recommendations for healthy practices.
The course will consist of the following components:
Synchronous online meetings MWF 10-10:50 AM. (local time in
Winston-Salem, NC, USA) The class sessions
will focus on discussion of the
material, particularly answering your prepared and spontaneous questions.
Asynchronous review of annotated lecture notes and corresponding
textbook sections. The reading assignment and
annotated lecture notes will be available one day before the
corresponding synchronous online discussion. For each class meeting,
students will be expected
to submit (by email)
at least one question for class discussion at least 3 hours before the
synchronous
online meeting.
Homework sets. Typically there will be one homework problem associated
with each synchronous meeting.
There will be two take-home exams, one at mid-term and the other
during finals week.
There will be one project on a chosen topic related to electrodynamics.
There will be weekly one-on-one meetings of each student with the
instructor to discuss the course material, homework, and/or projects. These
may be face-to-face or online as appropriate.
It is likely that your grade for the course will depend
upon the following factors:
*
In general, there will a new assignment after each lecture,
so that for optimal learning, it would be best to complete each assignment
before the next scheduled lecture. According to the honor system, all work
submitted for grading purposes should represent the student's own best
efforts.