Undergraduate Course: Classical Electrodynamics (PHYS11045)
Course Outline
| School | School of Physics and Astronomy |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | A course on the Maxwell equations, their Lorentz invariance, covariant formulation, and gauge invariance. Applications included classical radiation from time dependent charges and currents, and in particular accelerating charges. |
| Course description |
* Relativistic electrodynamics: Maxwell's equations, charge, energy and momentum conservation, the electromagnetic potentials, electromagnetic radiation and its generation, electric and magnetic dipole radiation.
* Action principles: for point particles, scalar fields, vector fields, charge and energy-momentum conservation.
* Accelerating charges: covariant Green's functions, the Lienard-Wiechert potential, their associated fields, synchotron radiation, Larmor formula.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Knowledge of relativity and background in electromagnetism up to Maxwell's equations is essential. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
52 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Degree Examination, 100% |
| Feedback |
Feedback will be provided by one to one meetings within workshops and pre-exam revision sessions.
|
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Classical Electrodynamics | 120 | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | Classical Electrodynamics August | 120 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the relativistic formulation of Maxwell's equations.
- Use the Lorentz transformation to transform fields and sources from one inertial frame to another.
- Appreciate the causal structure of electrodynamics.
- Derive detailed expressions for the nature of electromagnetic power emitted by various sources.
- Apply Maxwell's equations to solve unseen problems in classical electrodynamics.
|
Reading List
J.D. Jackson, "Classical Electrodynamics"
D.J. Griffiths, "Introduction to Electrodynamics"
L.D. Landau & E.M. Lifschitz, "The Classical Theory of Fields" |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Workshop/tutorial sessions, as arranged. |
| Keywords | CED |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Roman Zwicky
Tel: (0131 6)50 5243
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Lucy Davis-Jenkins
Tel:
Email: |
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