F10SR - Special Relativity

Course leader(s):

Aims

The goal of this course is to introduces the main physical ideas and the mathematical structures necessary to understand Einstein's theory of Special Relativity and to study its application to the dynamics of point particles and to Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic fields.

Syllabus

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to do the following:

use the Galilean transformation laws for time, space, energy and momentum
demonstrate the covariance of Newton's laws of motion under Galilean transformations
work with the Lorentz and Poincare groups and Minkowski space to describe physical processes
apply the equivalence of mass and energy to physical processes
work with Lorentz transformations of the electromagnetic field and simple examples of relativistic electrodynamics
work with Maxwell's equations and the continuity equation to describe electromagnetic systems

Further details

Curriculum explorer: Click here

SCQF Level: 10

Credits: 15