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Physics 7312

Electromagnetic Theory II - Fall 2025

Course Information

Lecturer: Professor Randall J. Scalise
Lecture meeting times and place: MWF 11:00-11:50AM in room 32 Fondren Science Building
Office hours: after lecture in room 107 Fondren Science and by appointment.
Contact:
- Call or leave a message at 768-2504, or
- Leave a note in the Physics Department Office - 102 Fondren Science, or
- send me e-mail: <scalise@smu.edu>
Program Objective: Students will apply their knowledge of Electromagnetism in solving physics problems.
Midterm Exam - Friday 3 March 2023 online during class time, open book and notes
Final Exam - Thursday 4 May 2023 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM, online open book and notes
Text:
- Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson (2nd or 3rd edition)
Lecture Notes
- PHYS 7311 notes
- Lecture 23
- Lecture 24
- Lecture 25
- Lecture 26, The Big Misconception About Electricity Veritasium
- Lecture 27, Hidden Momentum
- Lecture 28, Zypman's E field of charged ring
- Lecture 29, Density Matrix
- Lecture 30
- So you thought everything about electricity and magnetism was known...
  - Black holes take light for a spin
  - How to spot a spinning black hole
  - Twisted Light Could Enable Black Hole Detection
  - Twisting of light around rotating black holes
- Lecture 31
- Lecture 32
- Lecture 33
  - Green Functions
  - Optical Theorm
  - Kramers-Kronig Relation
- Diffraction
  - Single-slit Diffraction, PHYS 1304 notes
  - Diffraction from a Rectangular Aperture
  - Diffraction from a Circular Aperture
- Lecture 34
- Lecture 35
  - Longitudinal and Transverse Wave Motion
- Lecture 36
- Lecture 37
- Lecture 38
- Lecture 39
- Lecture 40
- Lecture 41
  - Terrell rotation, video
  - The Clock Hypothesis 1
  - The Clock Hypothesis 2
  - On the Galilean non-invariance of classical electromagnetism
- Lecture 42
- Lecture 43
- Lecture 44
- Lecture 45
  - Bremsstrahlung and Synchrotron Radiation differential power Mathematica notebook
- Lecture 46
  - Do uniformly accelerated charges radiate?
    - Rick Bradford
    - Kirk McDonald
    - See also Sidney Coleman's relativity lectures
- Lecture 47
  - Cherenkov radiation
  - Sonic boom
- Ponderomotive force and Wikipedia entry
Grading:
- Homework 60%
- Midterm Exam 20%
- Final Exam 20%
Syllabus
Homework Assignments Due dates are strictly enforced. 50% if late; 0% once the solutions are posted. You may work together, but the work that you turn in should be unique. Identical work will receive a grade that is divided among all parties. It is possible to find answers to some homework solutions on the internet; do not do this. The point, after all, is not to fool me into thinking that you have learned physics, but rather actually to learn some physics.
- Assignment #1: PDF due Wednesday 25 Jan 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #2: PDF due Thursday 2 Feb 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #3: PDF due Thursday 9 Feb 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #4: PDF due Thursday 16 Feb 2023 at 11:59:59pm Mathematica code for multipoles, See also Multipole Expansion
- Assignment #5: PDF due Thursday 23 Feb 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- No homework due on Thusday 2 March 2023 because of the midterm on Friday 3 March 2023
- Assignment #6: PDF due Thursday 9 Mar 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- No homework due on Thusday 16 March 2023 because of Spring Break
- Assignment #7: PDF due Thursday 23 Mar 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #8: PDF due Thursday 30 Mar 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #9: PDF due Thursday 6 Apr 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #10: PDF due Thursday 13 Apr 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #11: PDF due Thursday 20 Apr 2023 at 11:59:59pm
- Assignment #12: PDF due Thursday 27 Apr 2023 at 11:59:59pm
Homework solutions
Recommended Reading:
- Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griffiths
- Fundamentals of Electromagnetic Phenomena by Lorrain and Corson
- Robert G. Brown's notes
- Electromagnetic Fields and Energy by Herman A. Haus and James R. Melcher
- Kirk McDonald's Examples
- Classical Electrodynamics part II by Robert G. Brown
Official University Calendar
SMU Required Syllabus Statements

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