Electricity and magnetism, once thought to be distinct phenomena, were unified by key experimental and theoretical work in the 1800s by Faraday, Coulomb, Maxwell, and many others. Thus, electrodynamics was the first "Grand Unified Theory" and established the way that physics is done. 

Electromagnetic Theory is the first in a two-course sequence for graduate students in Physics and Astronomy and covers electrostatics and magnetostatics with a focus on mathematical methods such as separation of variables, conformal mapping, and Green's functions. The text used is Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics.

Below, please find the syllabus for this course for the Spring of 2024. I've included a diagnostic exam given the first day of class that allows students to assess their background in undergrad E&M. Course notes and the first midterm from Spring 2024 are also included.

Advanced Electromagnetic Theory is the second in a two-course sequence on electrodynamics at the graduate level. The course will cover classical field theory, Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves, wave guides and resonant cavities, radiation, diffraction, and the special relativity of electrodynamics. The text used is Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics.

The syllabus from the Fall of 2023 is provided below.

Quantum field theory is the study of continuous fields, subject to some symmetry or symmetries, to which the rules of quantum mechanics are applied. It is the most important and far-reaching theoretical tool that we have for studying the universe and is a crucial tool for both high energy and condensed matter physicists.

In this informal summer course, we will study and apply the key ideas from quantum field theory including canonical quantization, the path integral, Feynman diagrams, the renormalization group, and gauge theory. The course is open to anyone, but will assume knowledge of undergraduate quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and special relativity. The class sessions will be a mix of lectures, discussions, and collaborative problem solving.

I've included the course syllabus and the problem sets used in class. Solutions to problem set 1 are also included.

Consider an electron hopping on a circular ring with N sites. When localized to a particular site, the electron has an amplitude t to hop to a site to its right or left.

a) Find the eigenstates of this system. You may find it helpful to begin by writing down an expression for an operator which enacts rotations of the ring.

Now, consider a uniform electric field in the plane of the ring.

b) Write down the Hamiltonian describing the electric field in the momentum basis. Observe that the problem has a "duality".

c) Calculate the spectrum in the perturbative limit, that is, when the effect of the electric field is either very small or very large compared with the hopping. 

d) Note that we did not specify exactly where the electric field points. That is, it could point towards a particular site or in a slightly different direction. Assuming that the strength of the electric field is weak, calculate the energy associated with this uncertainty.