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Classical Electrodynamics (book)

November 07, 2023

Classical Electrodynamics is a textbook written by theoretical particle and nuclear physicist John David Jackson. The book originated as lecture notes that Jackson prepared for teaching graduate-level electromagnetism first at McGill University and then at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[1] Intended for graduate students, and often known as Jackson for short,[2] it has been a standard reference on its subject since its first publication in 1962.[3][4][5]

Classical Electrodynamics
Third edition front dust jacket
AuthorJohn David Jackson
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectElectromagnetism
GenreNon-fiction
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Publication date
1962, 1975, 1999
Pages808
ISBN0-471-30932-X
OCLC925677836

The book is notorious for the difficulty of its problems, and its tendency to treat non-obvious conclusions as self-evident.[4][6] A 2006 survey by the American Physical Society (APS) revealed that 76 out of the 80 U.S. physics departments surveyed require all first-year graduate students to complete a course using the third edition of this book.[6][7]

Overview edit

Advanced topics treated in the first edition include magnetohydrodynamics, plasma physics, the vector form of Kirchhoff's diffraction theory, special relativity, and radiation emitted by moving and colliding charges.[8] Jackson's choice of these topics is aimed at students interested in theoretical physics in general and nuclear and high-energy physics in particular. The necessary mathematical methods include vector calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations, Fourier series, and some special functions (the Bessel functions and Legendre polynomials).[9]

In the second edition, some new topics were added, including the Stokes parameters, the Kramers–Kronig dispersion relations, and the Sommerfeld–Brillouin problem. The two chapters on special relativity were rewritten entirely, with the basic results of relativistic kinematics being moved to the problems and replaced by a discussion on the electromagnetic Lagrangian. Materials on transition and collision radiation and multipole fields were modified. 117 new problems were added.[10]

While the previous two editions use Gaussian units, the third uses SI units, albeit for the first ten chapters only. Jackson wrote that this is in acknowledgement of the fact virtually all undergraduate textbooks on electrodynamics employ SI units and admitted he had "betrayed" an agreement he had with Edward Purcell that they would support each other in the use of Gaussian units. In the third edition, some materials, such as those on magnetostatics and electromagnetic induction, were rearranged or rewritten, while others, such as discussions of plasma physics, were eliminated altogether. One major addition is the use of numerical techniques. More than 110 new problems were added.[11]

Table of contents (3rd edition) edit

Editions edit

  1. Jackson, John D. (1962). Classical Electrodynamics (1st ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-43131-1. OCLC 705218816.
  2. Jackson, John D. (1975). Classical Electrodynamics (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-43132-9. OCLC 488784931.
  3. Jackson, John D. (1999). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-30932-1. OCLC 925677836.

Reception edit

According to a 2015 review of Andrew Zangwill's Modern Electrodynamics in the American Journal of Physics, "[t]he classic electrodynamics text for the past four decades has been the monumental work by J. D. Jackson, the book from which most current-generation physicists took their first course."[4]

First edition edit

L.C. Levitt, who worked at the Boeing Scientific Research Laboratory, commented that the first edition offers a lucid, comprehensive, and self-contained treatment of electromagnetism going from Coulomb's law of electrostatics all the way to self-fields and radiation reaction. However, it does not consider electrodynamics in media with spatial dispersion and radiation scattering in bulk matter. He recommended Electrodynamics of Continuous Media by Lev Landau and Evgeny Lifshitz as a supplement.[8][note 1]

Second edition edit

Reviewer Royce Zia from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute wrote that according to many students and professors, a major problem with the first edition of the book was how mathematically heavy the book was, which distracted students from the essential physics. In the second edition, many issues were addressed, more insightful discussions added and misleading diagrams removed. Extended chapters on the applications of electromagnetism brought students closer to research.[12]

Third edition edit

Physicist Wayne Saslow from Texas A&M University observed that some important new applications were added to the text, such as fiber optics and dielectric waveguides, which are crucial in modern communications technology, and synchrotron light sources, responsible for advances in condensed-matter physics, and that fragments of the excised chapter on magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics were scattered throughout the text. Saslow argued that Jackson's broad background in electrical engineering, nuclear and high-energy physics served him well in writing this book.[2]

Ronald Fox, a professor of physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, opined that this book compares well with Classical Electricity and Magnetism by Melba Phillips and Wolfgang Panofsky, and The Classical Theory of Fields by Landau and Lifshitz.[note 2] Classical Electrodynamics is much broader and has many more problems for students to solve. Landau and Lifshitz is simply too dense to be used as a textbook for beginning graduate students. However, the problems in Jackson do not pertain to other branches of physics, such as condensed-matter physics and biophysics. For optimal results, one must fill in the steps between equations and solve a lot of practice problems. Suggested readings and references are valuable. The third edition retains the book's reputation for the difficulty of the exercises it contains, and for its tendency to treat non-obvious conclusions as self-evident. Fox stated that Jackson is the most popular text on classical electromagnetism in the post-war era and that the only other graduate book of comparable fame is Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein. However, while Goldstein's text has been facing competition from Vladimir Arnold's Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics, Jackson remained unchallenged (as of 1999). Fox took an advanced course on electrodynamics in 1965 using the first edition of Jackson and taught graduate electrodynamics for the first time in 1978 using the second edition.[13]

Jagdish Mehra, a physicist and historian of science, wrote that Jackson's text is not as good as the book of the same name by Julian Schwinger et al. Whereas Jackson treats the subject as a branch of applied mathematics, Schwinger integrates the two, illuminating the properties of the mathematical objects used with physical phenomena. Unlike Jackson, Schwinger employs variational methods and Green's functions extensively. Mehra took issue with the use of SI units in the third edition, which he considered to be more appropriate for engineering than for theoretical physics. More specifically, he argued that electric and magnetic fields should not have different units because they are components of the electromagnetic field strength tensor.[3]

Andrew Zangwill, a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, noted the mixed reviews of Jackson after surveying the literature and reviews on Amazon. He pointed out that Jackson often leaves out the details in going from one equation to the next, which is often quite difficult. He stated that four different instructors at his school had worked on an alternative to Jackson using lecture notes developed in roughly a decade with the goal of strengthening the student's understanding of electrodynamics rather than treating it as a topic of applied mathematics.[6]

Thomas Peters from the University of Zürich argued that while Jackson has historically been training students to perform difficult mathematical calculations, a task that is undoubtedly important, there is much more to electrodynamics than this. He wrote that Modern Electrodynamics by Andrew Zangwill offers a "stimulating fresh look" on this subject.[14]

James Russ, an experimental high-energy physicist at the Carnegie Mellon University, was of the opinion that examples are challenging, and the fine points of physics are often left as exercises. He added that Modern Electrodynamics by Andrew Zangwill is a better choice for beginning graduate students, but Jackson offers more comprehensive coverage and remains a fine reference. He recommended having both on the shelf.[4]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ See Course of Theoretical Physics, Volume 8.
  2. ^ See Course of Theoretical Physics, Volume 2.

References edit

  1. ^ Jackson, J. D. (1999). "Snapshots of a Physicist's Life". Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science. 49: 1–33. Bibcode:1999ARNPS..49....1J. doi:10.1146/annurev.nucl.49.1.1.
  2. ^ a b Saslow, Wayne M. (January 1, 1999). "BOOK REVIEW: Classical Electrodynamics, by John David Jackson". Foundations of Physics. 29 (1): 133–135. Bibcode:1999FoPh...29..133S. doi:10.1023/a:1018821305089. ISSN 0015-9018. S2CID 116645556.
  3. ^ a b Mehra, Jagdish (February 18, 2000). "Classical Electrodynamics". American Journal of Physics. 68 (3): 296–298. Bibcode:2000AmJPh..68..296S. doi:10.1119/1.19413. ISSN 0002-9505. Some biographical details about Jackson in Mehra's review are inconsistent with Jackson's autobiography. See the article Jackson (1999).
  4. ^ a b c d Russ, James S. (June 22, 2015). "Modern Electrodynamics". American Journal of Physics. 83 (7): 660–661. Bibcode:2015AmJPh..83..660R. doi:10.1119/1.4913414. ISSN 0002-9505.
  5. ^ Chapman, Sandra C. (January 10, 2002). "Core Electrodynamics". American Journal of Physics. 70 (2): 191. Bibcode:2002AmJPh..70..191C. doi:10.1119/1.1432976. ISSN 0002-9505.
  6. ^ a b c Zangwill, Andrew (2013). "A New Textbook for Graduate Classical Electrodynamics" (PDF). American Physical Society. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  7. ^ Task Force on Graduate Education in Physics (June 2006). Graduate Education in Physics. Report of the Joint AAPT-APS Task Force. Revised (PDF). College Park, MD.: American Association of Physics Teachers. OCLC 1062939013.
  8. ^ a b Jackson, John David; Levitt, L. C. (November 1962). "Classical Electrodynamics". Physics Today. 15 (11): 62. Bibcode:1962PhT....15k..62J. doi:10.1063/1.3057859.
  9. ^ Jackson, John David (1999). "Preface to the First Edition". Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
  10. ^ Jackson, John David (1999). "Preface to the Second Edition". Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
  11. ^ Jackson, John David (1999). "Preface". Classical Electrodynamics. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
  12. ^ Jackson, J. D.; Zia, Royce K. P. (July 1977). "Classical Electrodynamics". Physics Today (2nd ed.). 30 (7): 61. Bibcode:1977PhT....30g..61J. doi:10.1063/1.3037637.
  13. ^ Fox, Ronald F. (August 20, 1999). "Classical Electrodynamics". American Journal of Physics (3rd ed.). 67 (9): 841–842. Bibcode:1999AmJPh..67..841J. doi:10.1119/1.19136. ISSN 0002-9505.
  14. ^ Peters, Thomas (January 16, 2014). "Modern Electrodynamics, by Andrew Zangwill". Contemporary Physics. 55 (1): 49. doi:10.1080/00107514.2013.868522. S2CID 122677767.

Further reading edit

  • Zangwill, Andrew (2013). Modern Electrodynamics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521896979.

November 07, 2023
classical, electrodynamics, book, classical, electrodynamics, textbook, written, theoretical, particle, nuclear, physicist, john, david, jackson, book, originated, lecture, notes, that, jackson, prepared, teaching, graduate, level, electromagnetism, first, mcg. Classical Electrodynamics is a textbook written by theoretical particle and nuclear physicist John David Jackson The book originated as lecture notes that Jackson prepared for teaching graduate level electromagnetism first at McGill University and then at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 1 Intended for graduate students and often known as Jackson for short 2 it has been a standard reference on its subject since its first publication in 1962 3 4 5 Classical ElectrodynamicsThird edition front dust jacketAuthorJohn David JacksonCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishSubjectElectromagnetismGenreNon fictionPublisherJohn Wiley amp SonsPublication date1962 1975 1999Pages808ISBN0 471 30932 XOCLC925677836The book is notorious for the difficulty of its problems and its tendency to treat non obvious conclusions as self evident 4 6 A 2006 survey by the American Physical Society APS revealed that 76 out of the 80 U S physics departments surveyed require all first year graduate students to complete a course using the third edition of this book 6 7 Contents 1 Overview 2 Table of contents 3rd edition 3 Editions 4 Reception 4 1 First edition 4 2 Second edition 4 3 Third edition 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further readingOverview editAdvanced topics treated in the first edition include magnetohydrodynamics plasma physics the vector form of Kirchhoff s diffraction theory special relativity and radiation emitted by moving and colliding charges 8 Jackson s choice of these topics is aimed at students interested in theoretical physics in general and nuclear and high energy physics in particular The necessary mathematical methods include vector calculus ordinary and partial differential equations Fourier series and some special functions the Bessel functions and Legendre polynomials 9 In the second edition some new topics were added including the Stokes parameters the Kramers Kronig dispersion relations and the Sommerfeld Brillouin problem The two chapters on special relativity were rewritten entirely with the basic results of relativistic kinematics being moved to the problems and replaced by a discussion on the electromagnetic Lagrangian Materials on transition and collision radiation and multipole fields were modified 117 new problems were added 10 While the previous two editions use Gaussian units the third uses SI units albeit for the first ten chapters only Jackson wrote that this is in acknowledgement of the fact virtually all undergraduate textbooks on electrodynamics employ SI units and admitted he had betrayed an agreement he had with Edward Purcell that they would support each other in the use of Gaussian units In the third edition some materials such as those on magnetostatics and electromagnetic induction were rearranged or rewritten while others such as discussions of plasma physics were eliminated altogether One major addition is the use of numerical techniques More than 110 new problems were added 11 Table of contents 3rd edition editIntroduction and Survey Chapter 1 Introduction to Electrostatics Chapter 2 Boundary value Problems in Electrostatics I Chapter 3 Boundary value Problems in Electrostatics II Chapter 4 Multipoles Electrostatics of Macroscopic Media Dielectrics Chapter 5 Magnetostatics Faraday s Law Quasi static Fields Chapter 6 Maxwell Equations Macroscopic Electromagnetism Conservation Laws Chapter 7 Plane Electromagnetic Waves and Wave Propagation Chapter 8 Waveguides Resonant Cavities and Optical Fibers Chapter 9 Radiating Systems Multipole Fields and Radiation Chapter 10 Scattering and Diffraction Chapter 11 Special Theory of Relativity Chapter 12 Dynamics of Relativistic Particles and Electromagnetic Fields Chapter 13 Collisions Energy Loss and Scattering of Charged Particles Cherenkov and Transition Radiation Chapter 14 Radiation by Moving Charges Chapter 15 Bremsstrahlung Method of Virtual Quanta Radiative Beta Processes Chapter 16 Radiation Damping Classical Models of Charged Particles Appendix on Units and Dimensions Bibliography IndexEditions editJackson John D 1962 Classical Electrodynamics 1st ed New York John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 0 471 43131 1 OCLC 705218816 Jackson John D 1975 Classical Electrodynamics 2nd ed New York John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 0 471 43132 9 OCLC 488784931 Jackson John D 1999 Classical Electrodynamics 3rd ed New York John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 0 471 30932 1 OCLC 925677836 Reception editAccording to a 2015 review of Andrew Zangwill s Modern Electrodynamics in the American Journal of Physics t he classic electrodynamics text for the past four decades has been the monumental work by J D Jackson the book from which most current generation physicists took their first course 4 First edition edit L C Levitt who worked at the Boeing Scientific Research Laboratory commented that the first edition offers a lucid comprehensive and self contained treatment of electromagnetism going from Coulomb s law of electrostatics all the way to self fields and radiation reaction However it does not consider electrodynamics in media with spatial dispersion and radiation scattering in bulk matter He recommended Electrodynamics of Continuous Media by Lev Landau and Evgeny Lifshitz as a supplement 8 note 1 Second edition edit Reviewer Royce Zia from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute wrote that according to many students and professors a major problem with the first edition of the book was how mathematically heavy the book was which distracted students from the essential physics In the second edition many issues were addressed more insightful discussions added and misleading diagrams removed Extended chapters on the applications of electromagnetism brought students closer to research 12 Third edition edit Physicist Wayne Saslow from Texas A amp M University observed that some important new applications were added to the text such as fiber optics and dielectric waveguides which are crucial in modern communications technology and synchrotron light sources responsible for advances in condensed matter physics and that fragments of the excised chapter on magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics were scattered throughout the text Saslow argued that Jackson s broad background in electrical engineering nuclear and high energy physics served him well in writing this book 2 Ronald Fox a professor of physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology opined that this book compares well with Classical Electricity and Magnetism by Melba Phillips and Wolfgang Panofsky and The Classical Theory of Fields by Landau and Lifshitz note 2 Classical Electrodynamics is much broader and has many more problems for students to solve Landau and Lifshitz is simply too dense to be used as a textbook for beginning graduate students However the problems in Jackson do not pertain to other branches of physics such as condensed matter physics and biophysics For optimal results one must fill in the steps between equations and solve a lot of practice problems Suggested readings and references are valuable The third edition retains the book s reputation for the difficulty of the exercises it contains and for its tendency to treat non obvious conclusions as self evident Fox stated that Jackson is the most popular text on classical electromagnetism in the post war era and that the only other graduate book of comparable fame is Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein However while Goldstein s text has been facing competition from Vladimir Arnold s Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics Jackson remained unchallenged as of 1999 Fox took an advanced course on electrodynamics in 1965 using the first edition of Jackson and taught graduate electrodynamics for the first time in 1978 using the second edition 13 Jagdish Mehra a physicist and historian of science wrote that Jackson s text is not as good as the book of the same name by Julian Schwinger et al Whereas Jackson treats the subject as a branch of applied mathematics Schwinger integrates the two illuminating the properties of the mathematical objects used with physical phenomena Unlike Jackson Schwinger employs variational methods and Green s functions extensively Mehra took issue with the use of SI units in the third edition which he considered to be more appropriate for engineering than for theoretical physics More specifically he argued that electric and magnetic fields should not have different units because they are components of the electromagnetic field strength tensor 3 Andrew Zangwill a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology noted the mixed reviews of Jackson after surveying the literature and reviews on Amazon He pointed out that Jackson often leaves out the details in going from one equation to the next which is often quite difficult He stated that four different instructors at his school had worked on an alternative to Jackson using lecture notes developed in roughly a decade with the goal of strengthening the student s understanding of electrodynamics rather than treating it as a topic of applied mathematics 6 Thomas Peters from the University of Zurich argued that while Jackson has historically been training students to perform difficult mathematical calculations a task that is undoubtedly important there is much more to electrodynamics than this He wrote that Modern Electrodynamics by Andrew Zangwill offers a stimulating fresh look on this subject 14 James Russ an experimental high energy physicist at the Carnegie Mellon University was of the opinion that examples are challenging and the fine points of physics are often left as exercises He added that Modern Electrodynamics by Andrew Zangwill is a better choice for beginning graduate students but Jackson offers more comprehensive coverage and remains a fine reference He recommended having both on the shelf 4 See also edit nbsp Books portal nbsp Physics portalIntroduction to Electrodynamics by David J Griffiths intended for undergraduates List of textbooks in electromagnetism A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism by James Clerk Maxwell a historically significant book Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein another textbook for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students General Relativity by Robert Wald a graduate textbook Notes edit See Course of Theoretical Physics Volume 8 See Course of Theoretical Physics Volume 2 References edit Jackson J D 1999 Snapshots of a Physicist s Life Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science 49 1 33 Bibcode 1999ARNPS 49 1J doi 10 1146 annurev nucl 49 1 1 a b Saslow Wayne M January 1 1999 BOOK REVIEW Classical Electrodynamics by John David Jackson Foundations of Physics 29 1 133 135 Bibcode 1999FoPh 29 133S doi 10 1023 a 1018821305089 ISSN 0015 9018 S2CID 116645556 a b Mehra Jagdish February 18 2000 Classical Electrodynamics American Journal of Physics 68 3 296 298 Bibcode 2000AmJPh 68 296S doi 10 1119 1 19413 ISSN 0002 9505 Some biographical details about Jackson in Mehra s review are inconsistent with Jackson s autobiography See the article Jackson 1999 a b c d Russ James S June 22 2015 Modern Electrodynamics American Journal of Physics 83 7 660 661 Bibcode 2015AmJPh 83 660R doi 10 1119 1 4913414 ISSN 0002 9505 Chapman Sandra C January 10 2002 Core Electrodynamics American Journal of Physics 70 2 191 Bibcode 2002AmJPh 70 191C doi 10 1119 1 1432976 ISSN 0002 9505 a b c Zangwill Andrew 2013 A New Textbook for Graduate Classical Electrodynamics PDF American Physical Society Retrieved September 2 2017 Task Force on Graduate Education in Physics June 2006 Graduate Education in Physics Report of the Joint AAPT APS Task Force Revised PDF College Park MD American Association of Physics Teachers OCLC 1062939013 a b Jackson John David Levitt L C November 1962 Classical Electrodynamics Physics Today 15 11 62 Bibcode 1962PhT 15k 62J doi 10 1063 1 3057859 Jackson John David 1999 Preface to the First Edition Classical Electrodynamics 3rd ed Wiley ISBN 0 471 30932 X Jackson John David 1999 Preface to the Second Edition Classical Electrodynamics 3rd ed Wiley ISBN 0 471 30932 X Jackson John David 1999 Preface Classical Electrodynamics Wiley ISBN 0 471 30932 X Jackson J D Zia Royce K P July 1977 Classical Electrodynamics Physics Today 2nd ed 30 7 61 Bibcode 1977PhT 30g 61J doi 10 1063 1 3037637 Fox Ronald F August 20 1999 Classical Electrodynamics American Journal of Physics 3rd ed 67 9 841 842 Bibcode 1999AmJPh 67 841J doi 10 1119 1 19136 ISSN 0002 9505 Peters Thomas January 16 2014 Modern Electrodynamics by Andrew Zangwill Contemporary Physics 55 1 49 doi 10 1080 00107514 2013 868522 S2CID 122677767 Further reading editZangwill Andrew 2013 Modern Electrodynamics Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0521896979 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Classical Electrodynamics book amp oldid 1173977077, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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