A1.2 B1.2

Principles of Dynamics
Part II, 2004

(i) In Hamiltonian mechanics the action is written

S=dt(paq˙aH(qa,pa,t))S=\int d t\left(p^{a} \dot{q}^{a}-H\left(q^{a}, p^{a}, t\right)\right)

Starting from Maupertius' principle δS=0\delta S=0, derive Hamilton's equations

q˙a=Hpa,p˙a=Hqa.\dot{q}^{a}=\frac{\partial H}{\partial p^{a}}, \quad \dot{p}^{a}=-\frac{\partial H}{\partial q^{a}} .

Show that HH is a constant of the motion if H/t=0\partial H / \partial t=0. When is pap^{a} a constant of the motion?

(ii) Consider the action SS given in Part (i), evaluated on a classical path, as a function of the final coordinates qfaq_{f}^{a} and final time tft_{f}, with the initial coordinates and the initial time held fixed. Show that S(qfa,tf)S\left(q_{f}^{a}, t_{f}\right) obeys

Sqfa=pfa,Stf=H(qfa,pfa,tf)\frac{\partial S}{\partial q_{f}^{a}}=p_{f}^{a}, \quad \frac{\partial S}{\partial t_{f}}=-H\left(q_{f}^{a}, p_{f}^{a}, t_{f}\right)

Now consider a simple harmonic oscillator with H=12(p2+q2)H=\frac{1}{2}\left(p^{2}+q^{2}\right). Setting the initial time and the initial coordinate to zero, find the classical solution for pp and qq with final coordinate q=qfq=q_{f} at time t=tft=t_{f}. Hence calculate S(tf,qf)S\left(t_{f}, q_{f}\right), and explicitly verify (2) in this case.