Paper 1, Section I, E

Classical Dynamics
Part II, 2019

(a) A mechanical system with nn degrees of freedom has the Lagrangian L(q,q˙)L(\mathbf{q}, \dot{\mathbf{q}}), where q=(q1,,qn)\mathbf{q}=\left(q_{1}, \ldots, q_{n}\right) are the generalized coordinates and q˙=dq/dt\dot{\mathbf{q}}=d \mathbf{q} / d t.

Suppose that LL is invariant under the continuous symmetry transformation q(t)\mathbf{q}(t) \mapsto Q(s,t)\mathbf{Q}(s, t), where ss is a real parameter and Q(0,t)=q(t)\mathbf{Q}(0, t)=\mathbf{q}(t). State and prove Noether's theorem for this system.

(b) A particle of mass mm moves in a conservative force field with potential energy V(r)V(\mathbf{r}), where r\mathbf{r} is the position vector in three-dimensional space.

Let (r,ϕ,z)(r, \phi, z) be cylindrical polar coordinates. V(r)V(\mathbf{r}) is said to have helical symmetry if it is of the form

V(r)=f(r,ϕkz),V(\mathbf{r})=f(r, \phi-k z),

for some constant kk. Show that a particle moving in a potential with helical symmetry has a conserved quantity that is a linear combination of angular and linear momenta.