Variational Principles in Dynamics and Quantum Theory

Yourgrau, Wolfgang; Mandelstam, Stanley

ISBN 10: 0486458881 / ISBN 13: 9780486458885

Verlag: Dover Publications, 2007

Missing dust jacket; Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.55. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers G0486458881I5N01

Inhaltsangabe:

Focusing on applications most relevant to modern physics, this text surveys variational principles and examines their relationship to dynamics and quantum theory. It stresses the history and theory of these mathematical concepts rather than their mechanics, providing many insights into the development of quantum mechanics in a remarkably lucid, compact form. Professional physicists and mathematicians, as well as advanced students with a strong mathematical background, will find it highly stimulating.
After summarizing the historical background from Pythagoras to Francis Bacon, the text covers Fermat's principle of least time, the principle of least action of Maupertuis, the development of this principle by Euler and Lagrange, and the equations of Lagrange and Hamilton. After this general treatment of variational principles, the authors proceed to derive Hamilton's principle, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, and Hamilton's canonical equations.
An investigation of electrodynamics in Hamiltonian form follows, along with an overview of variational principles in classical dynamics. The text then analyzes its most significant topics: the relation between variational principles and wave mechanics, and the principles of Feynman and Schwinger in quantum mechanics. Two concluding chapters extend the discussion to hydrodynamics and natural philosophy.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Variational Principles in Dynamics and ...
Verlag: Dover Publications
Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
Einband: Paperback
Zustand: Fair
Zustand des Schutzumschlags: No Jacket
Auflage: 3. Auflage