Classical Mechanics and Field Theory

An introduction to foundations of Classical Mechanics and Classical Field Theory

Lecture Notes

  • Classical Mechanics
    • Overview of foundations of classical mechanics
    • Langrangian, Hamiltonian formulation, Noether’s theorem, Poisson brackets and more
  • Classical Field Theory
    • Relativity: invariance of the interval, Lorentz transformations etc.
    • Classical field theory: scalar and vector fields, interactions
    • Electrodynamics, covariant Maxwell’s equations, EM waves

Texts

  • Goldstein, Poole, and Safko, Classical Mechanics
    • One of the standards, for good reason; very solid and thorough coverage.
  • Landau and Lifshitz, Mechanics (Vols. 1 and 2)
    • An older and technical book. A very elegant coverage of classical mechanics. More appropriate at a slightly more advanced level.
  • D. J. Griffiths, Intoduction to Electrodynamics