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Special Relativity (Fall 2022)
General: ( This webpage is updated gradually) - Last Update 12 Feb. 2022
This is a B.Sc. course, which will be held in Physics Department of Sharif University of Technology.
Class Time: Saturdays and Mondays afternoon: Will be announced
Place: Ibn Sina 1
Office Hours: by appointment - Email: baghram@sharif.edu, we can discuss in vclass
Registered students: 46
About the Course:
This is an introductory course on Special Relativity. The aim is to understand one of the greatest scientific achievements in humankind history, understand the structure of space and time when gravity is absent.
Teacher Assitants:
Amirhossein Samandar email address: amirsamandar@gmail.com
Hossein Mahdaei email address: hossein_mahdaei@yahoo.com
Seyyed Behrang Tafreshi Hosseini email address: sbehrangtafreshih@gmail.com
Mohammad Jamshidi email address:mo.jamshidi.la@gmail.com
Grading:
Mid-term : 6 points YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS HERE. Monday - 14 Azar 1401 - 5 Dec 2022
Assignments: 4 points YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS HERE Announced by TA
Projects, Class Activity, TA Classes: 3.0 point Presentation date: (Must be a very high quality project)
Friday - 14 Bahman 1401 - 3 Feb 2023 till 23:59 Just send to sh.baghram2@gmail.com
Presentation Day: No Presentation.
Final Exam: 8 points YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS HERE Saturday - 8 Bahman 1401 - 28 Jan 2023
Total grade: from 21.0 YOU CAN SEE THE TOTAL GRADING HERE
Suggested Reading:
Main guidline: Class Lecture Notes
& Relativity: Special general and Cosmology: Wolfgang Rindler 2006
Classical Electrodynamics, J.D. Jackson, 1999 third edition Chapter 11.6 and 11.7
Sidney Coleman's Lectures on Relativity, David J. Griffiths, David Derbes, Richard B. Sohn, Cambridge University Press (2022)
Special Relativity: From Einstein to Strings by John Henry Schwarz and Patricia Margaret Schwarz, Cambridge University Press (2004)
Nonlocal Gravity by Bahram Mashhoon (2017) - Oxford University Press
David Tong: Lectures on Quantum Field Theory - Cambridge University
نسبیت خاص- شهرام خسروی و رضا منصوری انتشارات دانشگاه صنعتی شریف 1389
Introduction to Classical Mechanics: David Morin Cambridge University Press 2008
Basic Relativity, R.A. Mould, 1994, chapter 1,2,3
Special Relativity: An Introduction with 200 Problems and Solutions: Michael Tsamparlis, springer 2010
Special Relativity, David W. Hoggs, 1997, whole lecture
Special Relativity : A. P. French 1968
Spacetime and Geometry: Introduction to General Relativity, Sean Carroll, Addison Wesley 2004 Chapter 1 -2
Introducing Einstein's Relativity, Ray d'Inverno, Oxford University Press- Chapter 5
Classical Mechanics: Goldstein, Poole and Safko, Addison Wesley 2002 Chapter 7
Gravitation: Foundation and Frontiers T.Padmanabhan, Cambridge University Press: 2010 Chapter 1
For Classical Field Theory and Special Relativity you can refer to:
1) A modern introduction to quantum field theory by Michele Maggiore Oxford University Press - 2005
2) An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory by Daniel V. Schroeder and Michael Peskin (1995)
** For Mathematical basis of Tensors calculus
1) Mathematical Physics: A Modern Introduction to Its Foundations by Sadri Hassani (1999)
2) The Geometry of Physics by Theodore Frankel (1997)
Lecture Notes
Introduction to Tensor Calculus by Kees Dullemond & Kasper Peeters
Lecture Notes on Electrodynamic and Special Relativity by David Tong
Main Topics of Course:
1- Historical perspective on the concept of space-time, Newtonian Gravity and Galilean Relativity
2- EM wave - light and Ether
3- Axioms of Special Relativity, the hypothesis of calibration and measurement, Lorentz transformations, space-time diagrams, length contraction, and time dilation
4- Minkowski Space-time diagrams, Minkowski metrics, SR paradoxes
5- SR Kinematicks - relative velocities, ...
6- Special Relativity and Optics
7- Tensor calculus I, the concept of four vectors
8- Acceleration in SR, concept of force and work
9- SR Dynamics, four-momentums, scattering and conservations.
10- Relativistic Electrodynamics
11- Relativistic classical field theory (conservations, Noether theorem and ...)
12-Tensor calculus II, manifolds
13- Thomas Precision in electrodynamics
14- Overview on General Relativity
Lectrure Notes and Presentations:
TensorAnalysis-I by Mr. Kuroush Allameh
Recorded Videos - Brief review of sessions:
Time Line of Lectures:
Lecture 1: ( Monday - 28 Shahrivar 1401 - 19 Sep 2022 )
Historical Perspective: From Newton To Maxwell - The concept of absolute space and absolute time
Lecture 2: ( Saturday - 2 Mehr 1401 - 24 Sep 2022 )
Historical Perspective: From Maxwell To Einstein - Ether, Michelson Morley experiment and the fundamentals of relativity
Lecture 3: ( Monday - 4 Mehr 1401 - 26 Sep 2022)
Postponed!
Lecture 4: ( Saturday - 9 Mehr 1401 - 1 Oct 2022 )
Postponed!
Lecture 5: ( Monday - 11 Mehr 1401 - 3 Oct 2022 )
Postponed!
Lecture 6: ( Saturday - 16 Mehr 1401 - 8 Oct 2022 )
Postponed!
Lecture 7: ( Monday - 18 Mehr 1401 - 10 Oct 2022 )
Postponed!
Lecture 8: ( Saturday - 23 Mehr 1401 - 15 Oct 2022)
Lorentz transformations.
Lecture 9: ( Monday - 25 Mehr 1401 - 17 Oct 2022)
Length contraction and time dilation I
Lecture 10: ( Saturday - 30 Mehr 1401 - 22 Oct 2022 )
Length contraction and time dilation II
Lecture 11: ( Monday - 2 Aban 1401 - 24 Oct 2022)
Minkowski space-time
Lecture 12: ( Saturday - 7 Aban 1401 - 29 Oct 2022 )
The barn and ladder paradox
Lecture 13: ( Monday - 9 Aban 1401 - 31 Oct 2022 )
The concept of event horizon and particle horizon
Lecture 14: ( Saturday - 14 Aban 1401 - 5 Nov 2022)
Relativistic dynamics
Lecture 15: ( Monday - 16 Aban 1401 - 7 Nov 2022)
Relativistic dynamics
Lecture 16: ( Saturday - 21 Aban 1401 - 12 Nov 2022)
Relativistic dynamics
Lecture 17: ( Monday - 23 Aban 1401 - 14 Nov 2022)
Electrodynamics
Lecture 18: ( Saturday - 28 Aban 1401 - 19 Nov 2022)
Electrodynamics
Lecture 19: ( Monday - 30 Aban 1401 - 21 Nov 2022 )
Electrodynamics
Lecture 20: ( Saturday - 5 Azar 1401 - 26 Nov 2022 )
Electrodynamics
Lecture 21: ( Monday - 7 Azar 1401 - 28 Nov 2022)
Classical Field theory
Lecture 22: ( Saturday - 12 Azar 1401 - 3 Dec 2022 )
Classical Field theory
Lecture 23: ( Monday - 14 Azar 1401 - 5 Dec 2022)
Classical Field theory: MIDTERM
Lecture 24: ( Saturday - 19 Azar 1401 - 10 Dec 2022 )
Classical Field theory
Lecture 25: ( Monday - 21 Azar 1401 - 12 Dec 2022)
Geodesics equation
Lecture 26: ( Saturday - 26 Azar 1401 - 17 Dec 2022 )
Thomas Precession relativity
Lecture 27: ( Monday - 28 Azar 1401 - 19 Dec 2022)
Thomas Precession relativity
Lecture 28: ( Saturday - 3 Day 1401 - 24 Dec 2022)
non Local Relativity
Lecture 29: ( Monday - 5 Day 1401 - 26 Dec 2022)
non Local Relativity
Assignments
You have the opportunity to use 7 days in total to send homeworks after deadlines.
1) Problem Set 1 due to Monday - 30 Aban 1401 - 21 November 2022
2) Problem Set 2 due to Monday - 26 Day 1401 - 16 January 2023
3) Problem Set 3 due to Monday - 3 Bahman 1401 - 23 January 2023
4) Problem Set 4 :
Derive equation 11.94 from Classical Electrodynamics by John David Jackson, Wiley; 3rd edition (1998)
due to Monday - 8 Bahman 1401 - 28 January 2023
Assignments Corresponding to Special Relativity Course - Fall 2020
1) The Problem Set 1 Due to Saturday 26 Mehr 1399 / 17 October 2020 till 23:59 Solutions
2) The Problem Set 2 Due to Saturday 10 Aban 1399 / 31 October 2020 till 23:59
3) The Problem Set 3 Due to Thursday 29 Aban 1399 / 19 November 2020 till 23:59
4) The Problem Set 4 Due to Saturday 22 Azar 1399 / 12 December 2020 till 23:59
5) The Problem Set 5 Due to Friday 5 Day 1399 / 25 December 2020 till 23:59
6) The Problem Set 6 Due to Saturday 20 Day 1399 / 9 January 2021 till 23:59
7) The Problem Set 7 Due to Monday 29 Day 1399 / 18 January 2021 till 23:59
Assignments Corresponding to Special Relativity Course - Fall 2017
3) The Problem Set 3 Solution Problem Set 3
5) The Problem Set 5 Solution Problem Set 5
7) The Problem Set 7 Solution Problem Set 7
Assignments Corresponding to Special Relativity Course - Fall 2016
Essays - Projects:
The projects and essays for this course must be prepared in high quality in science and presentation. It must be match with standards of presentations. The grading for this part as it is optional is very strict. So do not put your time for this unless you are determined to do a high quality job.
Classic Papers:
Einstein paper on Special Relativity 1905 - In German and its English translation
Useful Links:
Introduction to Special Relativity by Bruce Knuteson : MIT course 2005 : click here
Relativity by Max Tegmak: MIT open course 2006: click here
Special Relativity course
taught in Standford by Susskind (Spring 2012):
click here