PHYS 505 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Schedule

All reading is from the 3rd edition of J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics.

There will be frequent updates to the lecture topics, so check back regularly.

Week Date Approximate Lecture Topic (in progress) Reading HW
1

Tuesday

8/26/24

Lecture 1: Maxwell's Equations, EM Waves, Static Limit (Poisson & Laplace Eqs.)

pdf

1.1-1.7, 6.1, 6.2  
 

Thursday

8/28/24

Lecture 2: Conservation of Charge and Energy

pdf

5.16, 6.7 N/A
2

Tuesday

9/2/24

Lecture 3: Conservation of Momentum, Maxwell Stress Tensor

pdf

   
 

Thursday

9/4/24

Lecture 4: Green's Functions, Dirichlet Conditions, Reciprocity

pdf

1.7-1.10

HW1

Due @ midnight, Thurs Sept 11 Sun Sept 14

3

Tuesday

9/9/24

Lecture 5: G(x,x') Example, Separation of Variables

pdf

1.11, 2.2, 2.6, 2.8-2.9  
 

Thursday

9/11/24

Lecture 6: Orthogonal Functions -- Cartesian, Spherical, Cylindrical

pdf

2.9, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.7  
4

Tuesday

9/16/24

No Class

(PA in Austin, TX)

   
 

Thursday

9/17/24

Lecture 7: Spherical Harmonic Expansion for G(x,x')

pdf

3.9

HW2

Due @ midnight, Sun Sept 28

5

Tuesday

9/23/24

Lecture 8: Example of a Charged Hoop in a Spherical Cavity

pdf

3.10  
 

Thursday

9/25/24

Lecture 9: Multipole Expansion, Dielectrics, Boundary Conditions

pdf

4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 4.7  
6

Tuesday

9/30/24

Lecture 10: Magnetic Field, Vector Potential, Magnetic Dipoles

pdf

5.2-5.4, 5.6, 5.7  
 

Thursday

10/2/24

Lecture 11: Forces on Magnetic Dipoles, Magnetization

pdf

5.7, 5.8

HW3

Due @ midnight, Thu Oct 9

7

Tuesday

10/7/24

Lecture 12: Permeable Media, Magnetic Boundary Conditions, Magnetic Shielding

pdf

5.8, 5.9, 5.12, 6.7  
 

Thursday

10/9/24

Lecture 13: Time-Dependent Potentials, Gauge Invariance, Induction

pdf

5.15, 5.17  
8

Tuesday

10/14/24

Lecture 14: Time-Dependent Green's Functions, Causality

pdf

6.2, 6.3, 6.4  
 

Thursday

10/16/24

Lecture 14: Time-Dependent Green's Functions, Causality (continued)

6.4, 6.5  
9

Tuesday

10/21/24

Lecture 15: Harmonic Waves

pdf

7.1, 7.2  
 

Thursday

10/23/24

No Class

(PA in Maryland)

 

Take-home midterm exam

Due @ midnight, Thu Oct 30

10

Tuesday

10/28/24

Lecture 16: Heterogeneous Media, Fresnel Reflectivity

pdf

7.3, 7.4  
 

Thursday

10/30/24

Lecture 17: Optical Dispersion, Kramers-Kronig Relations, Causality

pdf

7.5, 7.8-7.10

HW4

Due @ midnight, Thu Nov 6 Sun Nov 9

11

Tuesday

11/4/24

Lecture 18: (Time permitting) Nonlinear Optics

pdf

N/A  
 

Thursday

11/6/24

Lecture 19: Waveguides, Resonant Cavities

pdf

8.1, 8.3-8.5, 8.7, 8.8

HW5

Due @ midnight, Thu Nov 13 Sun Nov 16

12

Tuesday

11/11/24

Lecture 20: Radiation

pdf

9.1, 9.2  
 

Thursday

11/13/24

Lecture 20: Radiation, continued.  

HW6

Due @ midnight, Sun Nov 23

13

Tuesday

11/18/24

Lecture 21: Rayleigh-Schrödinger Perturbation Theory, Scattering

pdf

10.1, 10.2 + special topics  
 

Thursday

11/20/24

Lecture 22: Crash Review of Special Relativity

pdf

TBA HW9
14

Tuesday

11/25/24

Fall Break    
 

Thursday

11/27/24

Fall Break   HW10
15

Tuesday

12/2/24

Lecture 23: Resolving the Hidden Momentum Paradox

pdf

(lecture notes only)  
 

Thursday

12/4/24

Lecture 24: Lorentz Transformation of E & B, Field Tensor

pdf

TBA  
16

Tuesday

12/9/24

Lecture 25: EM Lagrangian, Covariant Formulation of E&M

pdf

12.7, TBA

Take-home final exam

Due TBA