P541 Electromagnetic Theory I

                              Syllabus , Spring 2011

 

Text:             “Classical Electrodynamics” by J. D. Jackson, third edition,

                      John Wiley & Sons editors. You may also need a table of

                      functions and table of integrals (such as “Table of Integrals,

                      Series, and Products”, fifth edition, I. S. Gradshteyn et al.,

                      editors, Academic Press) to solve some of the homework

                      problems.

 

                      We will attempt to cover the first 10 chapters of Jackson’s

                      book. But in practice, perhaps we will only cover 8 or 9.

                      I prefer that you learn very well a few topics, than learning

                      superficially many.

 

Lectures:      Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:40 to 1:55. Please arrive on time.

                      The room is Physics 306.

 

Instructor:    Prof. Elbio Dagotto, edagotto@utk.edu, office room 302

                      (in front of elevator, third floor), South College building.

 

Office hours:  Mondays 2:15 to 3:15.

 

Schedule:       First lecture:  Thursday January 13th.      

                      Last lecture:  Thursday April 28th.        

                      Total number of lectures: 29.

                      Spring break:  M-F March 14 – 18.

                      Final exams:  timing to be discussed.

                      The official 2010-2011 calendar of UT can be found here.

 

Web page:     http://sces.phys.utk.edu/~dagotto/electromag/index.htm

 

Homework:   Due on Thursday at the beginning of class, following assignment

                      on previous Thursday. The assignments will be listed in the web

                      page. The homework will be graded by a grader and return to you.

                      Each problem set will be graded on a scale from 0 to 10.

                     The homework grade will be normalized to 40 points at the end

                      of the semester. Solutions to all homework problems will be

                      available in the webpage after the deadline.

 

                      I will be very reluctant to accept excuses for returning the

                      homework late, since you will always be given a full week of

                      time. But if a real emergency arises, I will understand.

 

                     It is crucial that you present the homework in a well-organized

                     manner, with framed results and a detail of the intermediate steps,

                     and of any assumption you may be making along the way in the

                     solution. Make sketches by hand of the solution you found, i.e.

                     think if the solution makes sense via special cases such as

                     asymptotic behaviors.

 

Grader:        Our grader this semester will be Paul Drazba. His office hours

                     will be Tuesdays 11 AM to 12:30 PM. His room number is

                     603 Nielsen, and email is pdrazba@utk.edu .

 

Exams:          There will be two ``midterm’’ exams administered during

                      class time. You will be notified at least one week in advance

                      of when the midterms will take place. And there will be a

                      final exam, at a time and using a format to be decided.

 

Grading:       50 points for exams (15 each midterm, 20 final);

                      40 points for homework;  10 for class participation.