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View Full Version : Pertinent content in Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics


ashtastic
Oct28-10, 07:21 PM
Hey all, just wondering if there is some consensus on which topics, covered in Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed), are the most relative to advanced studies in physics - e.g., quantum mechanics, the various field theories, relativity, symmetry and so on....

I'm not looking to skip through any relevant material, just narrow down the scope of the task.

thanks!

Daverz
Oct28-10, 07:44 PM
For QFT, some important things to be familiar with

Green's functions
gauge transformations
plane waves
radiation
conservation laws
relativity
field strength tensor
stress tensor
Lagrangian for the EM field

Jackson is pretty good on many topics, but the volume and detail of the book make it difficult to use for self-study. See some of the E&M book threads here for more books.