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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Physics and Astronomy : Undergraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy)

Undergraduate Course: Classical Electrodynamics (PHYS11045)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Physics and Astronomy CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryA 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.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: ( Electromagnetism (PHYS09060) AND Methods of Theoretical Physics (PHYS10105)) OR Electromagnetism and Relativity (PHYS10093) OR ( Electromagnetism (PHYS09060) AND Relativity, Nuclear and Particle Physics (PHYS10096))
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements At least 80 credit points accrued in courses of SCQF Level 9 or 10 drawn from Schedule Q.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesKnowledge of relativity and background in electromagnetism up to Maxwell's equations is essential.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2020/21, 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 Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand the relativistic formulation of Maxwell's equations.
  2. Use the Lorentz transformation to transform fields and sources from one inertial frame to another.
  3. Appreciate the causal structure of electrodynamics.
  4. Derive detailed expressions for the nature of electromagnetic power emitted by various sources.
  5. 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.
KeywordsCED
Contacts
Course organiserProf Donal O'Connell
Tel:
Email: Donal.O'Connell@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryDr Rebecca Hasler
Tel:
Email: becca.hasler@ed.ac.uk
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