Paper 2, Section II, B
Part IB, 2012
(i) A two-dimensional oscillator has action
Find the equations of motion as the Euler-Lagrange equations associated to , and use them to show that
is conserved. Write down the general solution of the equations of motion in terms of sin and , and evaluate in terms of the coefficients which arise in the general solution.
(ii) Another kind of oscillator has action
where and are real constants. Find the equations of motion and use these to show that in general is not conserved. Find the special value of the ratio for which is conserved. Explain what is special about the action in this case, and state the interpretation of .