SEMESTER – I

PHY1C01

CLASSICAL MECHANICS
Dr. Daison P. J
Assistant Professor
Research & PG Department of Physics
St. Thomas’ College (Autonomous)
 Lagrangian
and
Hamiltonian Formulation
 SYLLABUS:
1. Constraints and Generalized coordinates
2. D'Alembert’s principle and Lagrange’s equation
3. Velocity dependent potentials
4. Simple applications
5. Hamilton’s Principle
6. Lagrange’s equation from Hamilton’s principle
7. Kepler problem
8. Scattering in a central force field
9. Transformation to lab coordinates
10. Legendre Transformation
11. Hamilton’s canonical equations
12. Principle of least action
13. Canonical transformations
LAGRANGIAN FORMULATION
&
KEPLER PROBLEM
Analytical Mechanics:
o A scheme based on Newtonian mechanics can be termed as vector mechanics
since it deals with vector quantities like force, velocity, etc……
o Another scheme initiated by Leibnitz and associated with Euler, Lagrange and
Hamilton is known as Analytical Mechanics.
o The fundamental quantities associated with analytical mechanics are scalar
quantities like energy, Lagrangian, Hamiltonian etc…..

Constraints:
The restrictions or limitations imposed on position and velocities of a system are
known as constraints. (E.g.)
 In case of a simple pendulum, point mass always remains at constant distance
from the point of suspension.
 For a rigid body, distance between any two particles remain unchanged.
 The gas molecules inside a container are only restricted to move inside the
container.
 A train is constrained to move on rails.
 Classification of constraints
1. HOLONOMIC CONTRAINTS:
• If the conditions of constraints can be expressed as an equation of
the form

then the constraint is said to be holonomic.

(E.g.) Simple Pendulum:
The equation of a simple pendulum is:

Where ՜ and ՜ are the position vectors of the point

𝑟 𝑎
mass and the point of suspension.

If ՜ = 𝟎, we have ՜ 𝟐 = 𝒓𝟐 i.e. 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 = 𝑙2
𝒂 𝒓
2. NON-HOLONOMIC CONSTRAINTS:
• If the condition of constraints can’t be expressed in the above form, then the constraints are called
non-holonomic constraints.
(E.g.) The motion of gas molecule in a spherical vessel can be represented as ՜2 ≤ ՜2 where ‘r’ is the
𝑟 𝑎
position vector of the gas molecule w.r.t. the centre of vessel and ‘a’ is the radius.
DEGREES OF FREEDOM & GENERALISED CO-ORDINATES:
• The minimum number of independent variables required to define the system without violating the
constraints are called degrees of freedom.
A system of N particles, free from constraints has 3N degrees of freedom.
If there exists k holonomical constraints, expressed in k equations then, the system is said to have
3N – k = n degrees of freedom.
The system can be described by 3N – k = n independent variables q1, q2,……..,qn..

In general:

where i varies from 1 to N and j varies from 1 to n. The variables (q1, q2,……..,qn)
defined in eqn.1 are called generalised coordinates.
 Examples of Generalised Coordinates
 For a free particle, the spherical polar coordinates are:

x = rsinθcosφ = x(r,θ,φ)
y = rsinθsinφ = y(r,θ,φ)
x = rcosθ = z(r,θ). The generalised coordinates are r,θ and φ.

 For a simple pendulum moving in x-y plane, the generalised coordinate is θ

x = lcos θ = x(θ)
y = lsin θ = y(θ) since l is a constant.

 For a pareticle moving on surface of a sphere, the generalised coordinates are θ(latitude) and φ(longitude).
  The generalised coordinate may be an angle or any other convenient quantity. It may be even
charge.
𝒅𝒒𝒋
 The time derivative of generalised coordinate is known as generalised velocity. 𝒒ሶ𝒋 =
𝒅𝒕
Examples of degrees of freedom

 The degree of freedom of a particle moving on the surface of the sphere is 3N – k .i.e. 3 x 1 – 1=2
One particle-one equation of constraint x2 + y2 + z2 = a2.

 The degree of freedom of a dumbbell is 3N – k = 3 x 2 – 1=5

Two particle-one constraint, distance between the particles is a constant.

 The degree of freedom of three point masses connected by three rods is 3N – k = 3 x 3 – 3=6

 A rigid body can be defined by 3 particles such that the distance between them is constant. Hence the degrees
of freedom of a rigid body is 3 x 3 – 3=6

 Degrees of freedom in case of a simple pendulum in a x-y plane is 2N – k = 2 x 1 – 1=1

VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLES:
The basic problem of calculus of variation is to find a path y = y(x) between x1 and x2 such that line integral of f (y, y’,
x) is an extremum (maximum or minimum). Let
𝒙𝟐
𝐉= ‫𝒇 𝒙׬‬ 𝒚, 𝒚′ , 𝒙 𝒅𝒙 --------------------------- 1 this must be an extremum.
𝟏
Let P (x1, y1) and Q (x2, y2) be the two points in the space.
We associate a parameter α with all possible path passing through P and α. α is a constant for different path.
Let α be zero for a particular path for which the value of J is extremum.
Consider an arbitrary function η(x) which is continuous between x1 and x2 such that η ( x1 ) = η ( x2 ) = 0. Then a
possible variable path is given by,

𝑦 𝑥, 𝛼 = 𝑦 𝑥, 0 + 𝛼 𝜂 (𝑥)

y is a function of the independent variable x and parameter α.

𝒙𝟐
𝑱 = න 𝒇 𝒚, 𝒚, , 𝒙 𝒅𝒙
𝒙𝟏

𝒙
Or 𝑱 = ‫𝒙 𝒚 𝒇 𝟐 𝒙׬‬, 𝜶 , 𝒚′ 𝒙, 𝜶 , 𝒙 𝒅𝒙
𝟏
 𝜕𝐽
For the correct path = 0 since η (x) an arbitrary function, then the integral of the above equation must vanish. The
𝜕𝑡
necessary condition for this is :

This equation is known as Euler Differential Equation.

 HAMILTON’S PRINCIPLE
Statement:
The motion of a system from instant t1 to instant t2 is such that the line integral

𝒕𝟐
𝑱 = න 𝑳. 𝒅𝒕
𝒕𝟏

where L = K.E – P.E i.e. L = T – V is an extremum for the path of the motion.

In terms of calculus of variation, the Hamiltonian principle may be stated as

𝒕𝟐
𝜹𝑱 = 𝜹 ‫𝑳 𝒕׬‬. 𝒅𝒕 =𝟎
𝟏
with variations zero at t=t1 and t=t2.
NOTE:
 J is referred as action / action integral.
 Hamilton’s principle can be applied to non-mechanical systems where there is no relevance to
Newton’s Laws. {(E.g.) Electric Field, Electromagnetic field}
 Variation principle clearly states that Lagrangian is not unique, but is always uncertain by the time derivative of the
arbitrary function f ( q , t ).
We know, according to Hamilton’s Principle,

The time integral of total derivative between the end points depend only on the value of function at the endpoint. As the
variation at the end point is zero, the addition of the arbitrary time derivative to the Lagrangian does not affect the
𝑑
variational behaviour of the integral. Hence, Lagrangian is always uncertain by a term 𝐹(𝑞, 𝑡).
𝑑𝑡
 DERIVATION OF LAGRANGE’S EQUATION FROM HAMILTON’S PRINCIPLE

Lagrangian(L):

Lagrangian L is a function of generalised coordinates 𝑞𝑗 ’s , generalised velocities 𝑞𝑗ሶ ’s and time (t).

𝑳 = 𝑳 𝒒𝟏 , 𝒒𝟐 , 𝒒𝟑 , … … … . , 𝒒𝒋 , 𝒒𝟏ሶ , 𝒒𝟐ሶ , 𝒒𝟑ሶ , … … … . 𝒒𝒋ሶ , 𝒕

If the Lagrangian does not depend on the time explicitly, the variation δL can be written as:

𝑛 𝑛
𝜕𝐿 𝜕𝐿
𝛿𝐿 = ෍ 𝛿𝑞𝑗 + ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝜕𝑞𝑗 𝜕𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝑗=1 𝑗=1
Integrating from t = t1 to t = t2 , we get:

𝑡2 𝑡2 𝑛 𝑡2 𝑛
𝜕𝐿 𝜕𝐿
𝛿 න 𝐿𝑑𝑡 = න ෍ 𝛿𝑞𝑗 𝑑𝑡 + න ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝑑𝑡
𝑡1 𝑡1 𝑗=1 𝜕𝑞𝑗 𝑡1 𝜕 𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝑗=1
 𝑡
But, according to Hamilton’s principle, 𝛿 ‫ 𝑡׬‬2 𝐿𝑑𝑡 = 0
1
𝑡2 𝑛 𝑡2 𝑛
𝜕𝐿 𝜕𝐿
∴ න ෍ 𝛿𝑞𝑗 𝑑𝑡 + න ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝑑𝑡 = 0 −−−−−−− −𝑒𝑞𝑛. 1
𝑡1 𝜕𝑞𝑗 𝑡1 𝜕 𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝑗=1 𝑗=1

Integrating by parts, the IInd term becomes:

𝑡2 𝑛 𝑛 𝑡2 𝑡2 𝑛
𝜕𝐿 𝜕𝐿 𝑑 𝜕𝐿
න ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝑑𝑡 = ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ − න ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝑑𝑡
𝑡1 𝜕 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝜕 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝑡1 𝑗=1 𝑑𝑡 𝜕𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝑗=1 𝑗=1 𝑡1

At the end point of the path at the times t1 and t2 the coordinate must have definite value 𝑞𝑗 𝑡1 and 𝑞𝑗 𝑡2 .

So, 𝛿𝑞𝑗 𝑡1 = 0 and 𝛿𝑞𝑗 𝑡2 = 0.

Hence
𝑛 𝑡2
𝜕𝐿
෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ = 0.
𝜕𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝑗=1 𝑡1

Therefore, eqn.1 becomes

𝑡2 𝑛 𝑡2 𝑛
𝜕𝐿 𝑑 𝜕𝐿
න ෍ 𝛿𝑞𝑗 𝑑𝑡 − න ෍ 𝛿 𝑞𝑗ሶ 𝑑𝑡 = 0
𝑡1 𝑗=1 𝜕𝑞𝑗 𝑡1 𝑑𝑡 𝜕 𝑞𝑗ሶ
𝑗=1
Derivation of Lagrange’s equation from Hamilton’s Principle:
 Comparing (1) and (2) and also using (3); we get

where i = 1,2,3,……..,n

 This equation is known as Lagrange’s Equation of motion of a system of particles

 The quantity L is called Lagrangian of the system.

NOTE:
Fermat’s Principle of least action for light rays and Maupertui’s Principle of
lest action for material particles can be derived from Hamilton’s Principle.
PROBLEMS:
 Generalised momentum
The generalised momentum pj corresponding to generalised coordinates is defined as

𝝏𝑳
𝒑𝒋 =
𝝏𝒒𝒋ሶ
pj is also reffered as canonical or conjugate momentum.
o If qj represents linear displacement, pj represents linear momentum.
o If qj represents angle, pj represents angular momentum.
The generalised definition of momentum allow us to consider non-mechanical systems as well.
Cyclic or Ignorable Co-ordinates
We know that
𝑳 = 𝑳 𝒒𝒏 , 𝒒𝒏ሶ , 𝒕
i.e. 𝑳 = 𝑳 𝒒𝟏 , 𝒒𝟐 , 𝒒𝟑 , … … … . , 𝒒𝒏 , 𝒒𝟏ሶ , 𝒒𝟐ሶ , 𝒒𝟑ሶ , … … … . 𝒒𝒏
ሶ ,𝒕

𝝏𝑳
Due to some reasons if generalised coordinate 𝑞𝑘 is absent in the Lagrangian, i.e. = 𝟎,
𝝏𝒒𝒌
the Lagrange’s equation for the corresponding variable becomes:
 𝒅 𝝏𝑳 𝝏𝑳
− =𝟎
𝒅𝒕 𝝏𝒒𝒌ሶ 𝝏𝒒𝒌

𝒅 𝝏𝑳
=𝟎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝜕𝐿
=0
𝒅𝒕 𝝏𝒒𝒌ሶ 𝜕𝑞𝑘

𝒅
𝒑𝒌 = 𝟎
𝒅𝒕

∴ 𝝏𝑳
𝒑𝒌 =
𝝏𝒒𝒌ሶ

i.e. 𝒑𝒌 is a constant. This whenever the coordinates 𝑞𝑘 does not appear explicitly in Lagrangian, corresponding
momentum is a constant of motion. Such a coordinate is called cyclic or ignorable co-ordinate. The generalised
momentum corresponding to a cyclic co-ordinate is a constant of motion.
NOTE:

Any change in the cyclic co-ordinate will not affect the Lagrangian. So it is known as ignorable coordinate.
The Lagrangian for a particle moving in a central force feild is given by:

𝐋 = 𝟏ൗ𝟐 𝐦 𝐫ሶ 𝟐 + 𝐫𝛉ሶ 𝟐 − 𝐕(𝐫)

𝜕𝐿
Here, θ is a cyclic co-ordinate since it is absent in Lagrangian; = 0.
𝜕𝜃
𝑑 𝜕𝐿 𝑑
Hence, =0 => 𝑝𝜃 = 0 ; 𝑝𝜃 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
𝑑𝑡 𝜕𝜃 𝑑𝑡
i.e. Angular momentum is a constant of motion. This is one of the properties of conservative force field motion. If
we use cartesian coordinate system,

𝐋 = 𝟏ൗ𝟐 𝐦 𝐱ሶ 𝟐 + 𝐲ሶ 𝟐 − 𝐕(𝐱, 𝐲)
Here, neither x nor y is cyclic. So the choice of coordinate system is very important in solving problems.
VELOCITY-DEPENDENT POTENTIAL
 HAMILTON FORMULATION
&
CANONICAL TRANSFORMATION