PHY 712 Electrodynamics

MWF 10-10:50 AM Olin 103 Webpage: http://www.wfu.edu/~natalie/s23phy712/

Instructor: Natalie Holzwarth Office:300 OPL e-mail:natalie@wfu.edu

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. LINK An even more recent textbook: Advanced Classical Electromagnetism, by Robert M. Wald (Princeton University Press, 2022) may be of interest to some of you. LINK

The course will consist of the following components:
  • In person meetings in Olin 103 MWF 10-10:50 AM. Zoom connections can be made available if requested, but not on a regular basis. 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 class meeting.
  • Homework sets. Typically there will be one homework problem associated with each class 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.
  • It is highly recommended that each student arrange for weekly one-on-one meetings 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:

    Class participation

    15%

    Problem sets*

    35%

    Project

    15%

    Exams

    35%

    *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.

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    Last modfied: Tuesday, 03-Jan-2023 11:59:00 EST