A Modern Introduction to Classical Electrodynamics

A Modern Introduction to Classical Electrodynamics is suitable for undergraduate students with some background knowledge of the subject and for graduate students, while more advanced topics make it a useful resource for PhD students and researchers.

The book places much emphasis on the formal structure of the theory; beginning with Maxwell's equations in the vacuum, it emphasises the central role of gauge invariance and Special Relativity. After introductory chapters which include rederivations of elementary results of electrostatics and magnetostatics, and the multipole expansion, Special Relativity is introduced, and most of the subsequent derivations are performed using covariant formalism and gauge potentials, allowing for greater conceptual and technical clarity compared to more traditional treatments.

The second part of the book covers electrodynamics in material media. This includes Maxwell's equations in material media, frequency dependent response of materials and Kramers-Kronig relations, electromagnetic waves in materials, and scattering of electromagnetic radiation. Finally, the text also includes advanced topics, such as the field-theoretical treatment of classical electrodynamics as a modern treatment of radiation reaction. These parts are meant for the advanced reader and are clearly marked, and can be skipped without loss of continuity.

Michele Maggiore, Professor of Physics, University of Geneva

Michele Maggiore obtained his Masters in Physics from the University of Pisa in 1986 and his PhD in Physics from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa in 1990. Since then, he has undertaken postdocs in Bern and in Minneapolis, before becoming a permanent INFN researcher in Pisa in 1991. He spent a sabbatical at CERN in 2000 and, in 2001, became full professor at the University of Geneva, where he is now based. From 2011 to 2017, he was the Head of the Physics Department at Geneva University.