PHYS 632 -- Electromagnetic Theory -- Spring 2011

The UAF Catalog listing for PHYS 632: "Electrostatics, magnetostatics, Maxwell's equations, and potentials. Lorentz equations, field energy, gauge conditions, retarded potentials, waves, radiation and tensor formulations."

In terms of the content of the textbook (which you must have and bring to classes), we will try to cover selected topics mainly from Chapter 6 to 11 during the fall semester.  We will not cover everything in these chapters, due to the fact that we only have limited amount of time, not because other topics are not important. At the end of this syllabus is a tentative schedule which lists topics we plan to cover in more details. This is subject to change. So you should check frequently the online version of this page: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~chungsangng/phys632/phys632.html

The main goal of this course is to introduce you to the fundamental concepts, phenomena, and theories of electromagnetism, at the beginning graduate level. Emphasis will be on the theoretical aspects of the subject because the mathematical treatments covered in this course are very fundamental and should help students doing research in other branches of physics.

You must have a copy of the textbook: Classical Electrodynamics, by J. D. Jackson (3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN#: 9780471309321). It is very important that you read the Section(s) covered within each lecture and try to follow derivations before you come to that lecture. Please refer to the schedule below (subject to change) for such reading assignments. You should bring your textbook to the lectures.

Errata of the textbook can be found in: http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&itemId=047130932X&bcsId=3728

You will find it extremely useful to have some mathematical references, handbooks, or tables, e.g., table of integrals. There are many options available from the Internet, but you should be cautious about the accuracy of information obtained there. One recommendation is Abramowitz and Stegun: Handbook of Mathematical Functions, which can be downloaded freely. Another one is the NRL Plasma Formulary, which you can order a free copy or download it online.

The course is for 3 credits, and so 3 hours per week are devoted to "lectures" in the classroom.  However, since this is a graduate level course and that the topics and mathematics are quite advanced, there is not enough time to explains everything in details by lecturing. Students must help themselves by reading and studying before each class. Based on the reading schedule listed below, you need to write down notes as you read about difficulties and questions you found, and try to fill in between steps in derivations. You need to bring these notes and your textbook to each class and participate in discussion based on your notes.  I might go around and check your reading notes. Anyone without reading notes (or with very little written on them) or the Textbook will get a reduction of the participation grade of that day. You are also expected to ask questions and contribute to discussion in class about physical concepts and mathematical derivations. I will not have time to go through all the text and derivations, but will only try to answer questions that you found difficult. Any materials that we don't have time to go through in that class have to be left for self-study by students themselves. If you still have difficulties, you need to come to my office hours (or set up another time) and ask for additional help.

Note: some lecture notes might be available for download via the course home page (http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~chungsangng/phys632/phys632.html) by clicking at the dates of the lectures in the schedule. These notes are not to replace the lectures themselves or the textbook.

VI. Participation grade

Participation is very important in this course and thus it is counted towards 10% of the final grade. Participation grade will be given based on my general impression of your participation level. While you need to prepare for each class as indicated in point V so that you can participate in discussion and ask/answer questions, each student will take turn leading discussion for each class according to the schedule listed below. Each student will serve as the discussion leader for four classes. The discussion leader should discuss what he or she has learned from the reading preparation, and what are still not understood either mathematically or physically. The discussion leader should also prepare related questions of physical concepts for other students to discuss. Half of the participation grade will be based on how well you serve as the discussion leader in these four classes, and the other half will be based on your participation level in other classes.

Doing homework is the most important factor in doing well in this class. There will be approximately one homework set assigned per week, usually on Fridays, and is usually due in the following Friday before class.  However, you should work on your homework as early as possible before a deadline so that you can have time to ask for help during classes or in my office hours if you encounter difficulties in solving these problems. Late homework will not be accepted.

To emphasize the importance of doing homework, homework grade will count towards 40% of the total grade of the course, excluding the assignment with the lowest grade. 

Most homework questions will be assigned from those questions in the textbook. Some questions may be selected from other sources, as well as past PhD comprehensive exams. Your submission of any homework problem cannot simply be a one-line statement of the answer. You need to show steps of how you used the method leading to that answer. I will grade the homework based on the method used, as well as the answer. Therefore, you should submit your partially finished work. This will help you getting partial credit, and let me identify your difficulties. Also, your work should be clean and clear enough for me to understand.

While it is good for you to have discussion with classmates or search the Internet for additional information, your submitted homework should be of your own, but not a direct copy from another source. If you finish a question with the help of another person, a solution book, or a solution you found in the Internet or passed on to you from another student, you need to cite that at the end of your answer for that question. There is no deduction of points for using help that you cited if it is not a direct copy. However  there can be deduction up to the maximum points of that homework set if you used help but failed to cite. Also, you should use help only to enable you to do a problem yourselves. Keep in mind that you will be required to do similar questions on your own during exams (closed books in the final exams and in the PhD comprehensive exam). In addition, it is against the UAF Honor Code to misrepresent work which is not your own. Plagiarism on homework or on an exam will result in a failing grade.

Solutions to the homework problems will be available to you after the due date. Therefore, late homework will not be accepted. The homework assignments will be given in class, or posted on the course website (click on links within the Schedule).

There will be one take-home midterm exam given during the week of March 7th, and due on Friday March 25th before class. It is an open book/notes exam but you cannot ask for help from your classmates or another person, or search the Internet. There is also an take-home final exam given during the week of May 2nd and  due 5 PM on Monday, May 16th. This is absolutely the latest time you may submit your work, as well as discussing anything else with me.

Tips for getting more points in an exam: Exam questions will be graded based on the method used, as well as the answer. Therefore, you should write down explicitly and clearly step by step how you come up with your answers. Even if you don't know how to answer a question (or parts of a question), write down everything you can think of that might help formulate an approach to answer it. If you don't know how to answer the first part of a question, you should move on to answer other parts by assuming an answer to the first part. This will help you getting partial credit.

IX. Project

Since this course is mainly for graduate students, who are supposed to do physics research, part (20 %) of the total grade will be given for doing a project. The final product of the project for this semester will be a 10 minute talk and a presentation file for the talk. The presentation file should be short enough so that it can be presented in  about 10 minutes. Then there will be a few more minutes for questions. There should also be a list of references in the file, although you don't need to read through it.  Your talk should cover at least the following aspects: 1. What are the main conclusions of this paper and do you find them interesting or important (and why)? 2. What are the main mathematical/numerical/experimental methods used in this paper and do you believe the validity of the results (and why -- you don't need to repeat the presentation of the paper in details and you don't have to understand everything in the paper but you need to show your effort trying to understand it)? 3. What research can you suggest that is directly related to the main points of this paper that hasn't been done yet (you will need to perform a search to see if your suggested research, or similar ideas, has been done by other people)?

Although you may choose from any physics journal, I would strongly recommend searching a paper in journals aiming at the level of graduate students, e.g. the American Journal of Physics (http://scitation.aip.org/ajp/ which can be accessed through the GI network at the Elvey building) or the European journal of physics (which can be accessed through the UAF network linked from http://library.uaf.edu/). Topic of the paper you choose has to be related to one or more of the topics covered in this semester (e.g., Maxwell equations, waves, radiation, relativity,... etc). You should be able to find many papers using the search function.

Deadlines: You will need to work with me to finalize your choice of a paper by Monday, February 28th, by sending a copy (or a link) of the paper to me by email. A first draft of the presentation file (with enough details) is due on Monday, April 11th so that I can give you some feedback. The final presentation file is due absolutely no later than Wednesday, May 4th. The presentations will be given on Monday, May 9th, from 10:15 AM to about 12:45 PM (during the scheduled final exam time). Every student is expected to participate in the presentation.

My office hours are  9:25 AM - 10:25 AM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I will be at Reichardt 108 during these office hours. Canceled office hours will be announced in class or by email. If you need to see me outside these office hours, please set up a time by appointment to come to my office at Elvey 706E. These are hours set aside especially to help you - do not feel like you are imposing or cheating by coming in. If you have problems that need immediate attention, please send me an e-mail or give me a call at my office phone number.

I have set up a home page for the course: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~chungsangng/phys632/phys632.html. I may put additional materials that may be helpful to you later. So, please come back often, especially to check any changes in the schedule. The UAF Blackboard site for this course will be made available to students , but will not be used to provide communication about this course. I will post grades there but those might not be updated very frequently.

The Physics Department will work with the Office of Disabilities Services (203 WHIT, 474-7043) to provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities.