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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 ...
A simple interpretation of Hamiltonian mechanics comes from its application on a one-dimensional system consisting of one nonrelativistic particle of mass m. The value H ( p , q ) {\displaystyle H(p,q)} of the Hamiltonian is the total energy of the system, in this case the sum of kinetic and potential energy , traditionally denoted T and V ...
The Hamiltonian of the particle is: ^ = ^ + ^ = ^ + ^, where m is the particle's mass, k is the force constant, = / is the angular frequency of the oscillator, ^ is the position operator (given by x in the coordinate basis), and ^ is the momentum operator (given by ^ = / in the coordinate basis).
The Hamiltonian that contains only the kinetic energies of electrons and nuclei, and the Coulomb interactions between them, is known as the Coulomb Hamiltonian. From it are missing a number of small terms, most of which are due to electronic and nuclear spin .
In the general time-independent case, the dynamics of a particle in a spherically symmetric potential are governed by a Hamiltonian of the following form: ^ = ^ + Here, is the mass of the particle, ^ is the momentum operator, and the potential () depends only on the vector magnitude of the position vector, that is, the radial distance from the ...
The classical Hamiltonian for a particle in a potential is the kinetic energy p·p/2m plus the potential energy V(r, t), with the corresponding quantum operator in the Schrödinger picture: ^ = ^ ^ + (,)
The Hamiltonian for a system of discrete particles is a function of their generalized coordinates and conjugate momenta, and possibly, time. For continua and fields, Hamiltonian mechanics is unsuitable but can be extended by considering a large number of point masses, and taking the continuous limit, that is, infinitely many particles forming a continuum or field.
The simplest example of a quantum system with a position degree of freedom is a free particle in a single spatial dimension. A free particle is one which is not subject to external influences, so that its Hamiltonian consists only of its kinetic energy: