Electrodynamics

This is a re-issued and affordable printing of the widely used undergraduate electrodynamics textbook.

Practically all of modern physics deals with fields—functions of space (or spacetime) that give the value of a certain quantity, such as the temperature, in terms of its location within a prescribed volume. Electrodynamics is a comprehensive study of the field produced by (and interacting with) charged particles, which in practice means almost all matter. Fulvio Melia's Electrodynamics offers a concise, compact, yet complete treatment of this important branch of physics. Unlike most of the standard texts, Electrodynamics neither assumes familiarity with basic concepts nor ends before reaching advanced theoretical principles. Instead this book takes a continuous approach, leading the reader from fundamental physical principles through to a relativistic Lagrangian formalism that overlaps with the field theoretic techniques used in other branches of advanced physics. Avoiding unnecessary technical details and calculations, Electrodynamics will serve both as a useful supplemental text for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and as a helpful overview for physicists who specialize in other fields.

The 1988 Nobel Prize winner establishes the subject's mathematical background, reviews the principles of electrostatics, then introduces Einstein's special theory of relativity and applies it to topics throughout the book.

An engaging writing style and a strong focus on the physics make this graduate-level textbook a must-have for electromagnetism students.

In this book Carver Mead offers a radically new approach to the standard problems of electromagnetic theory. Motivated by the belief that the goal of scientific research should be the simplification and unification of knowledge, he describes a new way of doing electrodynamics—collective electrodynamics—that does not rely on Maxwell's equations, but rather uses the quantum nature of matter as its sole basis. Collective electrodynamics is a way of looking at how electrons interact, based on experiments that tell us about the electrons directly. (As Mead points out, Maxwell had no access to these experiments.) The results Mead derives for standard electromagnetic problems are identical to those found in any text. Collective electrodynamics reveals, however, that quantities that we usually think of as being very different are, in fact, the same—that electromagnetic phenomena are simple and direct manifestations of quantum phenomena. Mead views his approach as a first step toward reformulating quantum concepts in a clear and comprehensible manner. The book is divided into five sections: magnetic interaction of steady currents, propagating waves, electromagnetic energy, radiation in free space, and electromagnetic interaction of atoms. In an engaging preface, Mead tells how his approach to electromagnetic theory was inspired by his interaction with Richard Feynman.

Problems after each chapter

Electrodynamics is a basic area of physics, encompassing also classical and quantum physics, optics, relativity and field theory, and is of universal practical importance. The present text aims at a balance between basic theory and practical applications, and includes introductions to specific quantum mechanical effects. The detailed presentation allows the reader to follow every step. Each chapter is supplemented by both worked examples and unsolved exercises. This thoroughly revised second edition with new sections on networks and diffraction, and with international units stated wherever relevant, covers all the material normally required for a first degree in physics and beyond, and may serve as a step to advanced applications and research.

Comprehensive graduate-level text by a distinguished theoretical physicist reveals the classical underpinnings of modern quantum field theory. Topics include space-time, Lorentz transformations, conservation laws, equations of motion, Green’s functions, and more. 1964 edition.