Covariant Formulation Of Classical Electrodynamics
Last updated 3/2026
MP4 | Video: h264, 1920x1080 | Audio: AAC, 44.1 KHz, 2 Ch
Language: English | Duration: 5h 51m | Size: 7.48 GB
Mathematical intuition behind Electromagnetism
What you'll learn
covariant formulation of electrodynamics
derivation of Maxwell's equations
electromagnetic energy momentum tensor
electromagnetic tensor
Requirements
This course makes use of the concepts of: tensors, Minkowski metric, Lagrangian mechanics, which were introduced by the instructor in the course "Mathematical Intuition behind Special and General Relativity". This course is not for beginners, nevertheless emphasis is put on intuition rather than on mathematical rigor.
tensors
Minkowski metric
Special Relativity
Lagrangian mechanics
Description
This course aims to give a concise, complete and mathematically intuitive description of the fundamental laws of electromagnetism, namely: Maxwell's equations, Lorentz force, electromagnetic energy momentum tensor, etc.
The following concepts are used extensively: tensors, Minkowski metric, lagrangian mechanics, which were introduced by the instructor in the course "Mathematical intuition behind Special and General Relativity".
The covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism refers to ways of writing the laws of classical electromagnetism (in particular, Maxwell's equations and the Lorentz force) in a form that is clearly invariant under Lorentz transformations, in the formalism of special relativity (therefore using inertial coordinate systems). These expressions simply prove that the laws of classical electromagnetism take the same form in any inertial coordinate system, as well as provide a way to treat the fields and forces in different reference frames. However, this is not as general as Maxwell's equations in curved spacetime (i.e. non-rectilinear coordinate systems). Maxwell's equations can also be extended to curved spacetime without great effort.
We will derive Maxwell's equations in vacuum, where they can be written as two tensor equations (instead of 4 vector equations).
We will also see how to derive the electromagnetic tensor, starting from an intuitive Lagrangian approach, and also calculate the energy-momentum-tensor related to electromagnetic fields, by recalling some expressions derived in the course on General Relativity ("Mathematical Intuition behind Special and General Relativity").
Note (September 2021): I have improved the speaking fluency of the entire course, which should now be easier to follow. When I created this course, I focused more on the concepts rather than on the appearance of the course or speech fluency. However, the way concepts are delivered is also very important, so I deem this improvement to be relevant.
Who this course is for
Students who aim to understand the subtle aspects of the theory of Electromagnetism
Students who want to prove Maxwell's equations
Students who seek to optimize their mastery of Lagrangian mechanics
Covariant Formulation Of Classical Electrodynamics
