Physics 514, Winter Quarter 2020

Prof. Leslie J Rosenberg, Department of Physics, University of Washington


General information:
Physics 514, the second course in graduate electrodynamics
Lectures are Wednesdays and Fridays 11:00-12:20 in the Physics & Astronomy Building (A-wing), room A114
Textbook: J.D. Jackson, "Classical Electrodynamics," third edition

Course Instructor:
Prof. Leslie J Rosenberg
Email: ljrosenberg@phys.washington.edu
Office: Physics & Astronomy Building, room C503
Office Hours: Physics & Astronomy Building, C503, Wednesdays: 12:30 or by appointment
Telephone: (206) 221-5856

TAs/graders:
Isaac Shelby ishelby@uw.edu
Francis Walsh fwalsh2@uw.edu

Useful Information:

Recent course news:

Lecture Instructor's Comments

Welcome to Physics 514, the second of a three-quarter sequence of graduate classical electrodynamics. This is a wonderful topic, it's challenging and stimulating. Electrodynamics is crucial for understanding the underpinnings of the physical and biological sciences. It's also crucial for modern technology. In your career, you will need a familiarity with Jackson chapters 1-16 in order to converse sensibly with your colleagues.

Regarding the course: We will use Jackson's text "Classical Electrodynamics". You might want more details or other topics than found in Jackson, or perhaps you'd like an alternative approach. In which case you might want to look at Panofsky and Phillips "Classical Electricity and Magnetism". Two very good, very readable, books for some slightly more formal aspects of the classical field theory with fewer applications are Landau and Lifshitz "The Classical Theory of Fields" and "Electrodynamics of Continuous Media". Another nice thing about Landau and Lifshitz "Fields" is halfway through "Theory of Fields", General Relativity enters rather seamlessly. A slightly more elementary alternate text is Slater and Frank "Electromagnetism". Most homework problems, and indeed the majority of homework problems in most texts, are adapted from Smythe, "Static and Dynamic Electricity", a challenging text with an unusual notation. A more modern text is Zangwell, "Modern Electrodynamics", it has good reviews, but I haven't yet gone through it. There's no perfect text, and every text has gems scattered throughout.

Mathematical methods are interspersed throughout the course as needed, Jackson is good about introducing the mathematics background. For a math refresher, you could refer to Dennery and Krzywicki "Mathematics for Physicists".

That said, for the first and second quarters we'll follow Jackson's text somewhat closely.

Syllabus The syllabus for 514 starts with chapter 5 in Jackson. We'll then follow the text in more or less the text ordering. We'll supplement Jackson's presentation with added material. See above for a link to the readings and lectures. Try to read the relevant text and added material before class; this will take time but there's a big payoff in understanding.

Grading 40% of your grade is assigned to the midterm exam, 40% to the final exam, 20% to the homework. There is no final exam, the course grade will consider the midterm score and the homework scores.

  • Midterm exam: There will be one midterm exam and a final exam. Calculators are permitted, but text storage and graphics functionality must not be used. Exams are to be your own work; you are not permitted to collaborate with any other person. The Physics Department reserves the right to ask for valid identification from any student during examinations.
  • Note that there are no make-up exams or make-up homework. Students with outside professional, service, or career commitments (i.e. military service, professional conference presentation, etc.) conflicting exactly with the exam dates must contact the instructor in the first two weeks of the quarter to establish alternate procedures. Students who miss an exam or homework due to illness should contact the instructor as soon as you're reasonably able to discuss alternate procedures. Except for debilitating illness or other crisis, students who miss an exam or homework without making prior arrangements with the lecture instructor will get a zero for that score. Except for illness and circumstances noted above, a final grade of 0.0 may be assigned to any student who misses a midterm or final exam.
  • Re-grades: If you believe that points on an exam or homework were incorrectly totaled, a score is missing, or if there's a gross error in the grading, you may notify the instructor or submit an exam or homework for regrading. For exam or homework regrade requests, you must resubmit the exam or homework in question to the instructor no later than at the beginning of the lecture following the one in which it was returned. Write a brief note on a separate piece of paper explaining the possible error in the grading and staple this note to the front of the exam or homework pages when you submit them for re-grading in the regrade time window. For missing scores, notify the instructor in writing with relevant details within the regrade time window. Don't make any changes or marks on any pages of the exam or homework. A request for a regrade may result in re-grading of the entire exam or homework. Therefore your total score may increase or decrease. Requests beyond the regrade time window will not be considered.
  • Homework:
    • Lecture homework will generally be assigned and collected weekly. You'll turn in homework to the instructor on the due-day in class at the beginning of class. It is no longer the case you can turn in homework in the instructor's mailbox in the Physics Department Main office, any such will be returned ungraded. Homework not submitted as above, unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor, receives zero points. Not all the homework problems will be graded. Caveat: If you start working on the homework the day before it's due, you'll not finish on time, the work will be poor, and you won't receive much benefit from the problems. The graders will consider neatness and logic of presentation, points will be deducted for lack of either. Words help in explaining your solution. Briefly, if your homework is a messy, incoherent scrawl, the graders won't evaluate your homework. I strongly encourage you to work collaboratively, but your submitted work must be your own.
  • Communication:
    • For administrative issues, it's best to contact me via email. But, for physics questions, please don't use email (unless the question answer is of the "yes/no" variety). Physics is best discussed at office hours. You're encouraged to come by at times outside my office hours, but please don't be offended if I'm too busy to talk. Also, don't hesitate to make an appointment to see me. Also, I have a second office at CENPA, across campus. You're welcome to come by CENPA and talk with me, and I'd also be delighted to show you the ADMX dark-matter search there.
  • Religious Accommodations:
    • Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).