Preface

Summary

In an undergraduate physics course it is common practice to introduce electromagnetic theory in two stages with a third stage at senior undergraduate level or higher. In a first course the integral forms of Maxwell's equations are introduced and used to treat a variety of problems relating electric and magnetic fields to their sources. The essential part of a second course is the introduction of the differential forms of Maxwell's equations, with a major ingredient being the development of the necessary mathematical tools of the differential vector calculus and the integral theorems of Gauss and Stokes. The physical content of this part of the second course differs little from that of the first course, and usually some additional chapters such as electromagnetic responses of media, propagation of electromagnetic waves in waveguides, Lorentz transformation of electromagnetic fields and so on, are included to add some new physical content. A third course in electromagnetic theory starts with the differential forms of Maxwell's equations, and is usually at senior undergraduate or first year graduate level. The present book is intended to be at the level of such a third course in electromagnetic theory.

There is an approach to the teaching of electromagnetic theory at this level that has become almost traditional due to the availability of some excellent textbooks that present a similar approach. Notable examples are Stratton (1941), Landau and Lifshitz, (1951) Jackson (1975) and Panofsky and Phillips (1962), as cited in the Bibliographic Notes.