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Hamilton's principle states that the true evolution q(t) of a system described by N generalized coordinates q = (q 1, q 2, ..., q N) between two specified states q 1 = q(t 1) and q 2 = q(t 2) at two specified times t 1 and t 2 is a stationary point (a point where the variation is zero) of the action functional [] = ((), ˙ (),) where (, ˙,) is the Lagrangian function for the system.
The Hamiltonian of a system represents the total energy of the system; that is, the sum of the kinetic and potential energies of all particles associated with the system. . The Hamiltonian takes different forms and can be simplified in some cases by taking into account the concrete characteristics of the system under analysis, such as single or several particles in the system, interaction ...
Hamilton's equations give the time evolution of coordinates and conjugate momenta in four first-order differential equations, ˙ = ˙ = ˙ = ˙ = Momentum , which corresponds to the vertical component of angular momentum = ˙ , is a constant of motion. That is a consequence of the rotational symmetry of the ...
A Hamiltonian system is a dynamical system governed by Hamilton's equations. In physics, this dynamical system describes the evolution of a physical system such as a planetary system or an electron in an electromagnetic field. These systems can be studied in both Hamiltonian mechanics and dynamical systems theory.
Numerous other concepts and objects in mechanics, such as Hamilton's principle, Hamilton's principal function, the Hamilton–Jacobi equation, Cayley-Hamilton theorem are named after Hamilton. The Hamiltonian is the name of both a function (classical) and an operator (quantum) in physics, and, in a different sense, a term from graph theory .
In physics, Liouville's theorem, named after the French mathematician Joseph Liouville, is a key theorem in classical statistical and Hamiltonian mechanics.It asserts that the phase-space distribution function is constant along the trajectories of the system—that is that the density of system points in the vicinity of a given system point traveling through phase-space is constant with time.
In quantum mechanics, the variational method is one way of finding approximations to the lowest energy eigenstate or ground state, and some excited states. This allows calculating approximate wavefunctions such as molecular orbitals. [1] The basis for this method is the variational principle. [2] [3]
By a limiting procedure, Richard Schoen and Shing-Tung Yau used Hamilton's theorem to prove that any finite-energy map from a complete Riemannian manifold to a closed Riemannian manifold of nonpositive curvature can be deformed into a finite-energy harmonic map. [29]