SPECIAL RELATIVITY

Degree course: 
Corso di First cycle degree in Physics
Academic year when starting the degree: 
2018/2019
Year: 
2
Academic year in which the course will be held: 
2019/2020
Course type: 
Compulsory subjects, characteristic of the class
Credits: 
5
Period: 
Second semester
Standard lectures hours: 
40
Detail of lecture’s hours: 
Lesson (40 hours)
Requirements: 

Newtonian Physics, Linear Algebra, Classic Electromagnetism

Final Examination: 
Orale

Homework

Assessment: 
Voto Finale

This is a course in special relativity and the theory of the electromagnetic field. The student is expected to familiarize with the basic concepts of special relativity and to be able to apply them to concrete situations. Some cultural and literary references about the idea of relativity will be also provided.

0 The idea of relativity and the role of symmetry in physics
0.1 The idea of relativity in the Greek and Latin cultures
0.2 The idea of relativity in Giordano Bruno’s Cena delle Ceneri
0.3 The idea of relativity in Galileo’s Dialogo
0.4 The transformations of Galileo
0.5 The problem of the aether
0.6 The experiment of Michelson-Morley
1 The principle of relativity
1.1 Propagation of the interactions
1.2 The invariant nterval
1.3 Proper time
1.4 Lorentz transformations
1.5 Tensor Calculus
1.5.1 Vectors
1.5.2 Tensors
1.6 Tensors and the Minkowski spacetime
1.7 Four-velocity and Four-acceleration
2 Relativistic Mechanics
2.1 Principle of least action
2.2 Energy and impulse
2.3 Kinematics of scattering and particle decays
2.3.1 Decays
2.3.2 Scattering
2.4 Particles in mechanics relativistic
3 Particle in an external electromagnetic field
3.1 Four-potentials
3.2 Equations of motion
3.3 Gauge invariance
3.4 Motion of a particle in the em field
3.4.1 Uniform constant electric field
3.4.2 Uniform constant magnetic field
3.5 Lorentz transformatin for the field
3.6 Invariants of the field
4 Dynamics of the electromagnetic field
4.1 The action for the field
4.2 Four-currents
4.3 Maxwell’s equations
4.4 Energy-momentum tensor in general
4.5 Application to the em field
5 Electromagnetic waves
5.1 Wave equation
5.2 General solution
5.3 Energy-imomentum of a plain wave
5.4 Doppler effect
5.5 Particular solutions of the wave equation
6 Electromagnetic Radiation
6.1 Retarded potential
6.2 Lienard and Wiechert’s potential
6.3 Lienard-Wiechert’s fields
6.4 Decomposition
6.5 Field in the wave zone
6.6 Radiation

As above

E. Taylor, J. Wheeler
Spacetime physics
L.D. Landau E. M. Lifschitz
The classical theory of Fields

Blackboard lectures

Nothing

Professors