A Student's Guide to Lagrangians and Hamiltonians

A Student's Guide to Lagrangians and Hamiltonians
Author: Patrick Hamill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2014
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1107042887

A concise treatment of variational techniques, focussing on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian systems, ideal for physics, engineering and mathematics students.

Lagrangian And Hamiltonian Mechanics: Solutions To The Exercises

Lagrangian And Hamiltonian Mechanics: Solutions To The Exercises
Author: Melvin G Calkin
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Total Pages: 240
Release: 1999-03-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9813105410

This book contains the exercises from the classical mechanics text Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, together with their complete solutions. It is intended primarily for instructors who are using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics in their course, but it may also be used, together with that text, by those who are studying mechanics on their own.

Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics

Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics
Author: Peter Mann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 553
Release: 2018
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0198822375

The book introduces classical mechanics. It does so in an informal style with numerous fresh, modern and inter-disciplinary applications assuming no prior knowledge of the necessary mathematics. The book provides a comprehensive and self-contained treatment of the subject matter up to the forefront of research in multiple areas.

An Introduction to Hamiltonian Mechanics

An Introduction to Hamiltonian Mechanics
Author: Gerardo F. Torres del Castillo
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2018-09-08
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3319952250

This textbook examines the Hamiltonian formulation in classical mechanics with the basic mathematical tools of multivariate calculus. It explores topics like variational symmetries, canonoid transformations, and geometrical optics that are usually omitted from an introductory classical mechanics course. For students with only a basic knowledge of mathematics and physics, this book makes those results accessible through worked-out examples and well-chosen exercises. For readers not familiar with Lagrange equations, the first chapters are devoted to the Lagrangian formalism and its applications. Later sections discuss canonical transformations, the Hamilton–Jacobi equation, and the Liouville Theorem on solutions of the Hamilton–Jacobi equation. Graduate and advanced undergraduate students in physics or mathematics who are interested in mechanics and applied math will benefit from this treatment of analytical mechanics. The text assumes the basics of classical mechanics, as well as linear algebra, differential calculus, elementary differential equations and analytic geometry. Designed for self-study, this book includes detailed examples and exercises with complete solutions, although it can also serve as a class text.

Hamiltonian Mechanics of Gauge Systems

Hamiltonian Mechanics of Gauge Systems
Author: Lev V. Prokhorov
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2011-09-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1139500902

The principles of gauge symmetry and quantization are fundamental to modern understanding of the laws of electromagnetism, weak and strong subatomic forces and the theory of general relativity. Ideal for graduate students and researchers in theoretical and mathematical physics, this unique book provides a systematic introduction to Hamiltonian mechanics of systems with gauge symmetry. The book reveals how gauge symmetry may lead to a non-trivial geometry of the physical phase space and studies its effect on quantum dynamics by path integral methods. It also covers aspects of Hamiltonian path integral formalism in detail, along with a number of related topics such as the theory of canonical transformations on phase space supermanifolds, non-commutativity of canonical quantization and elimination of non-physical variables. The discussion is accompanied by numerous detailed examples of dynamical models with gauge symmetries, clearly illustrating the key concepts.

Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics

Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics
Author: V.I. Arnol'd
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2013-04-09
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1475720637

This book constructs the mathematical apparatus of classical mechanics from the beginning, examining basic problems in dynamics like the theory of oscillations and the Hamiltonian formalism. The author emphasizes geometrical considerations and includes phase spaces and flows, vector fields, and Lie groups. Discussion includes qualitative methods of the theory of dynamical systems and of asymptotic methods like averaging and adiabatic invariance.

Convexity Methods in Hamiltonian Mechanics

Convexity Methods in Hamiltonian Mechanics
Author: Ivar Ekeland
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3642743315

In the case of completely integrable systems, periodic solutions are found by inspection. For nonintegrable systems, such as the three-body problem in celestial mechanics, they are found by perturbation theory: there is a small parameter € in the problem, the mass of the perturbing body for instance, and for € = 0 the system becomes completely integrable. One then tries to show that its periodic solutions will subsist for € -# 0 small enough. Poincare also introduced global methods, relying on the topological properties of the flow, and the fact that it preserves the 2-form L~=l dPi 1\ dqi' The most celebrated result he obtained in this direction is his last geometric theorem, which states that an area-preserving map of the annulus which rotates the inner circle and the outer circle in opposite directions must have two fixed points. And now another ancient theme appear: the least action principle. It states that the periodic solutions of a Hamiltonian system are extremals of a suitable integral over closed curves. In other words, the problem is variational. This fact was known to Fermat, and Maupertuis put it in the Hamiltonian formalism. In spite of its great aesthetic appeal, the least action principle has had little impact in Hamiltonian mechanics. There is, of course, one exception, Emmy Noether's theorem, which relates integrals ofthe motion to symmetries of the equations. But until recently, no periodic solution had ever been found by variational methods.

Classical Mechanics

Classical Mechanics
Author: Alexei Deriglazov
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2010-08-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642140378

Formalism of classical mechanics underlies a number of powerful mathematical methods that are widely used in theoretical and mathematical physics. This book considers the basics facts of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, as well as related topics, such as canonical transformations, integral invariants, potential motion in geometric setting, symmetries, the Noether theorem and systems with constraints. While in some cases the formalism is developed beyond the traditional level adopted in the standard textbooks on classical mechanics, only elementary mathematical methods are used in the exposition of the material. The mathematical constructions involved are explicitly described and explained, so the book can be a good starting point for the undergraduate student new to this field. At the same time and where possible, intuitive motivations are replaced by explicit proofs and direct computations, preserving the level of rigor that makes the book useful for the graduate students intending to work in one of the branches of the vast field of theoretical physics. To illustrate how classical-mechanics formalism works in other branches of theoretical physics, examples related to electrodynamics, as well as to relativistic and quantum mechanics, are included.

Global Formulations of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics on Manifolds

Global Formulations of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics on Manifolds
Author: Taeyoung Lee
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2017-08-14
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3319569538

This book provides an accessible introduction to the variational formulation of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, with a novel emphasis on global descriptions of the dynamics, which is a significant conceptual departure from more traditional approaches based on the use of local coordinates on the configuration manifold. In particular, we introduce a general methodology for obtaining globally valid equations of motion on configuration manifolds that are Lie groups, homogeneous spaces, and embedded manifolds, thereby avoiding the difficulties associated with coordinate singularities. The material is presented in an approachable fashion by considering concrete configuration manifolds of increasing complexity, which then motivates and naturally leads to the more general formulation that follows. Understanding of the material is enhanced by numerous in-depth examples throughout the book, culminating in non-trivial applications involving multi-body systems. This book is written for a general audience of mathematicians, engineers, and physicists with a basic knowledge of mechanics. Some basic background in differential geometry is helpful, but not essential, as the relevant concepts are introduced in the book, thereby making the material accessible to a broad audience, and suitable for either self-study or as the basis for a graduate course in applied mathematics, engineering, or physics.

Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics, second edition

Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics, second edition
Author: Gerald Jay Sussman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2015-02-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262028964

The new edition of a classic text that concentrates on developing general methods for studying the behavior of classical systems, with extensive use of computation. We now know that there is much more to classical mechanics than previously suspected. Derivations of the equations of motion, the focus of traditional presentations of mechanics, are just the beginning. This innovative textbook, now in its second edition, concentrates on developing general methods for studying the behavior of classical systems, whether or not they have a symbolic solution. It focuses on the phenomenon of motion and makes extensive use of computer simulation in its explorations of the topic. It weaves recent discoveries in nonlinear dynamics throughout the text, rather than presenting them as an afterthought. Explorations of phenomena such as the transition to chaos, nonlinear resonances, and resonance overlap to help the student develop appropriate analytic tools for understanding. The book uses computation to constrain notation, to capture and formalize methods, and for simulation and symbolic analysis. The requirement that the computer be able to interpret any expression provides the student with strict and immediate feedback about whether an expression is correctly formulated. This second edition has been updated throughout, with revisions that reflect insights gained by the authors from using the text every year at MIT. In addition, because of substantial software improvements, this edition provides algebraic proofs of more generality than those in the previous edition; this improvement permeates the new edition.