Physics

Role within programme and connections to other courses. This course will be our first major foray into the formalism of electromagnetic theory. A thorough examination of the nature of vector fields and the forces they cause, and scalar fields along with their relationship to energy, will form a connection to earlier discussions started in Mechanics I. The tools studied previously in Intermediate Calculus (vector operations and calculus) and Methods of Theoretical Physics (particularly special functions like Legendre polynomials and spherical harmonics, delta functions, and tensor analysis) will play a significant role here. Content. Interactions between point charges, the nature and calculation of the electric and magnetic fields, the distribution of electric and magnetic fields in space (flux, Gauss’ law, Ampère’s law), reactions of charges and dipoles to applied fields, electrostatic scalar potential and magnetic vector potential, elementary gauge theory, energy storage in static electric and magnetic fields, elementary treatment of fields in materials, fields across boundaries, time dependence of electromagnetic fields, displacement current, the final form of Maxwell’s equations, electromagnetic waves.