Enrolment options

Venue: Chern Lecture Hall

Class Timings: Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM

First Meeting: 08 January 2025

Course Description: This will be an course in electromagnetic theory at the level of Landau and Lifshitz  and Jackson. The emphasis will be on electromagnetism as an example of a relativistic classical field theory. The course will begin with special relativity and view Maxwell's equations from a slightly advanced point of view. The aim is to help beginning students to make the transition to research.  There will be two 90 minute lectures a week and one tutorial. Solving problems is an essential part of the course. Each lecture will begin with a simple 15 minute quiz to help the instructor pitch the lectures at the appropriate level.

References:
  • Landau and Lifshitz, Classical Theory of Fields
  • Jackson Electrodynamics Rybicki
  • Lightman Radiative Processes in Astrophysics
Course Evaluation: The grading policy will be based on the following weightage:
  • Class Quizzes: 25% 
  • Assignments: 25% 
  • Mid-Term Examination 25%
  • End term Exam: 25%
Prerequisites: Firm grounding in vector calculus, Stokes' and Green's theorems and a familiarity with electromagnetic phenomena at the level of the Berkeley Physics Course.

Course Outcome:
  • Understand the variational principles, symmetries and their associated conservation laws in electromagnetism and apply them to solve problems. 
  • Solve electrostatic/magnetostatic boundary value problems using the methods of Green functions, Eigenfunction expansions, multipole expansion etc.
  • Solve EM radiation problems using waveguide theory, far-field approximations, Larmor formula, Hertz-Debye potentials, vector multipole expansions, etc. 
  • Solve EM scattering/diffraction problems in long/short wavelength approximations as well as Mie scattering at intermediate wavelengths. 
  • Construct and use simple statistical mechanical models of electric/magnetic susceptibility, ohmic conductivity, Debye screening and electrochemical activity. 
  • Derive commonly used constitutive relations and make simple order of magnitude estimates of electric/magnetic properties of matter

Credit Score: 4
Self enrolment (Student)