Modern Electrodynamics

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

Andrew Zangwill (Author)

9780521896979, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 December 2012

998 pages, 515 b/w illus. 579 exercises
25.4 x 19.4 x 4 cm, 1.72 kg

'… clear and modern … very well structured … could make a hit in the textbook market and, more importantly, could have a serious impact on the future writing style of books on electromagnetics. This book is one of the best books about electrodynamics I have read, up to now. It greatly contributes to the development of physical understanding, is already used heavily within my research group, and is thus highly recommended.' Guy Vandenbosch, Radio Science Bulletin

An engaging writing style and a strong focus on the physics make this comprehensive, graduate-level textbook unique among existing classical electromagnetism textbooks. Charged particles in vacuum and the electrodynamics of continuous media are given equal attention in discussions of electrostatics, magnetostatics, quasistatics, conservation laws, wave propagation, radiation, scattering, special relativity and field theory. Extensive use of qualitative arguments similar to those used by working physicists makes Modern Electrodynamics a must-have for every student of this subject. In 24 chapters, the textbook covers many more topics than can be presented in a typical two-semester course, making it easy for instructors to tailor courses to their specific needs. Close to 120 worked examples and 80 applications boxes help the reader build physical intuition and develop technical skill. Nearly 600 end-of-chapter homework problems encourage students to engage actively with the material. A solutions manual is available for instructors at www.cambridge.org/Zangwill.

1. Mathematical preliminaries
2. The Maxwell equations
3. Electrostatics
4. Electric multipoles
5. Conducting matter
6. Dielectric matter
7. Laplace's Equation
8. Poisson's Equation
9. Steady current
10. Magnetostatics
11. Magnetic multipoles
12. Magnetic force and energy
13. Magnetic matter
14. Dynamic and quasistatic fields
15. General electromagnetic fields
16. Waves in vacuum
17. Waves in simple matter
18. Waves in dispersive matter
19. Guided and confined waves
20. Retardation and radiation
21. Scattering and diffraction
22. Special relativity
23. Fields from moving charges
24. Lagrangian and Hamiltonian methods
Appendixes
Index.

Subject Areas: Electricity, electromagnetism & magnetism [PHK], Physics [PH], Mathematics & science [P]