Hello everybody.
I would like to ask anyone who have taken graduate electrodynamics with jackson.
What do you think is the best way to prepare yourself to graduate electromagnetism by Jackson, if only electromagnetism by Griffith is covered during undergrad.
In particular, what mathematical concepts one must be fammiliar and at what is good electromagnetism book to work with besides griffith.
Dr Transport
Nov11-08, 09:48 PM
If you have the chance to take a course in PDE's, do it. Another course that I found indispensable for Jackson is a course in Special Functions..... A decent book is
I used it for self study along with taking a course from it.......
Ben Niehoff
Nov11-08, 10:36 PM
The above-mentioned book is useful.
People bad-mouth Jackson's book a lot, but it's not really too bad (at least the electrostatics half). Basically, you will do the same sort of things you did in Griffith's, but with different geometries (and less symmetry). Once you understand the general idea of expanding Green's functions in terms of a basis appropriate to the geometry of your problem, you're good to go.
kodiakghost
Nov12-08, 05:37 PM
If you have a chance, study tensor algebra independently before you take Jackson. Also, anything you can read on relativistic electromagnetism will help. If your mind is already use to thinking about electromagnetism in this way before you jump into Jackson, it will be much easier - you won't feel so much like you're stumbling in the dark.
If you've had a decent two semester sequence with Griffiths, I'd consider that fair enough as far as undergraduate prep. Reviewing that material won't help a whole lot. At least it didn't for me.
haplo
Nov12-08, 07:14 PM
Any suggestions on good Tensor Algebra book?
robousy
Nov13-08, 03:11 AM
Certainly master all of Griffiths. Also, be extremely well prepared mathematically. Be a master of advanced calculus, vector calculus, ODE's PDE's Green's functions (V.important) and some complex analysis would help for some of the integrals.
I've just completed a PhD and EM was by far the course that I found the most challenging. My advice, do not approach it lightly. :)
robousy
Nov13-08, 03:12 AM
If you have a chance, study tensor algebra independently before you take Jackson. Also, anything you can read on relativistic electromagnetism will help. If your mind is already use to thinking about electromagnetism in this way before you jump into Jackson, it will be much easier - you won't feel so much like you're stumbling in the dark.
If you've had a decent two semester sequence with Griffiths, I'd consider that fair enough as far as undergraduate prep. Reviewing that material won't help a whole lot. At least it didn't for me.
Why tensor algebra? I really don't think this should be high up on your list of priorities.
haplo
Nov13-08, 03:15 AM
So tensors is not that critical.
Any suggestions what book has the best treatment of greens functions as well as PDE?
kodiakghost
Nov13-08, 07:45 AM
Our professor jumped right in to chapter 12 the first week of the semester. We started everything from a relativistic approach and there was a significant amount of tensor algebra for us. But perhaps it will be a completely different experience depending on the professor. For me, knowing the Griffiths material was of very very little help.
ice109
Nov14-08, 03:05 PM
If you have the chance to take a course in PDE's, do it. Another course that I found indispensable for Jackson is a course in Special Functions..... A decent book is