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Hamilton–Jacobi Equation
In physics, the Hamilton–Jacobi equation, named after William Rowan Hamilton and Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, is an alternative formulation of classical mechanics, equivalent to other formulations such as Newton's laws of motion, Lagrangian mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics. The Hamilton–Jacobi equation is particularly useful in identifying conserved quantities for mechanical systems, which may be possible even when the mechanical problem itself cannot be solved completely. The Hamilton–Jacobi equation is also the only formulation of mechanics in which the motion of a particle can be represented as a wave. In this sense, it fulfilled a long-held goal of theoretical physics (dating at least to Johann Bernoulli in the eighteenth century) of finding an analogy between the propagation of light and the motion of a particle. The wave equation followed by mechanical systems is similar to, but not identical with, Schrödinger's equation, as described below; for this reason, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. "Physics is one of the most fundamental of the sciences. Scientists of all disciplines use the ideas of physics, including chemists who study the structure of molecules, paleontologists who try to reconstruct how dinosaurs walked, and climatologists who study how human activities affect the atmosphere and oceans. Physics is also the foundation of all engineering and technology. No engineer could design a flat-screen TV, an interplanetary spacecraft, or even a better mousetrap without first understanding the basic laws of phys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generalized Coordinates
In analytical mechanics, generalized coordinates are a set of parameters used to represent the state of a system in a configuration space. These parameters must uniquely define the configuration of the system relative to a reference state.,p. 397, §7.2.1 Selection of generalized coordinates/ref> The generalized velocities are the time derivatives of the generalized coordinates of the system. The adjective "generalized" distinguishes these parameters from the traditional use of the term "coordinate" to refer to Cartesian coordinates An example of a generalized coordinate would be to describe the position of a pendulum using the angle of the pendulum relative to vertical, rather than by the x and y position of the pendulum. Although there may be many possible choices for generalized coordinates for a physical system, they are generally selected to simplify calculations, such as the solution of the equations of motion for the system. If the coordinates are independent of one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generating Function (physics)
In physics, and more specifically in Hamiltonian mechanics, a generating function is, loosely, a function whose partial derivatives generate the differential equations that determine a system's dynamics. Common examples are the partition function of statistical mechanics, the Hamiltonian, and the function which acts as a bridge between two sets of canonical variables when performing a canonical transformation. In canonical transformations There are four basic generating functions, summarized by the following table: Example Sometimes a given Hamiltonian can be turned into one that looks like the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, which is :H = aP^2 + bQ^2. For example, with the Hamiltonian :H = \frac + \frac, where ''p'' is the generalized momentum and ''q'' is the generalized coordinate, a good canonical transformation to choose would be This turns the Hamiltonian into :H = \frac + \frac, which is in the form of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian. The generating functio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partial Differential Equation
In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to how is thought of as an unknown number to be solved for in an algebraic equation like . However, it is usually impossible to write down explicit formulas for solutions of partial differential equations. There is, correspondingly, a vast amount of modern mathematical and scientific research on methods to numerically approximate solutions of certain partial differential equations using computers. Partial differential equations also occupy a large sector of pure mathematical research, in which the usual questions are, broadly speaking, on the identification of general qualitative features of solutions of various partial differential equations, such as existence, uniqueness, regularity, and stability. Among the many open questions are the ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-linear Differential Equation
In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other scientists because most systems are inherently nonlinear in nature. Nonlinear dynamical systems, describing changes in variables over time, may appear chaotic, unpredictable, or counterintuitive, contrasting with much simpler linear systems. Typically, the behavior of a nonlinear system is described in mathematics by a nonlinear system of equations, which is a set of simultaneous equations in which the unknowns (or the unknown functions in the case of differential equations) appear as variables of a polynomial of degree higher than one or in the argument of a function which is not a polynomial of degree one. In other words, in a nonlinear system of equations, the equation(s) to be solved cannot be written as a linear combination of the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gateaux Derivative
In mathematics, the Gateaux differential or Gateaux derivative is a generalization of the concept of directional derivative in differential calculus. Named after René Gateaux, a French mathematician who died young in World War I, it is defined for functions between locally convex topological vector spaces such as Banach spaces. Like the Fréchet derivative on a Banach space, the Gateaux differential is often used to formalize the functional derivative commonly used in the calculus of variations and physics. Unlike other forms of derivatives, the Gateaux differential of a function may be nonlinear. However, often the definition of the Gateaux differential also requires that it be a continuous linear transformation. Some authors, such as , draw a further distinction between the Gateaux differential (which may be nonlinear) and the Gateaux derivative (which they take to be linear). In most applications, continuous linearity follows from some more primitive condition which is na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virtual Displacement
In analytical mechanics, a branch of applied mathematics and physics, a virtual displacement (or infinitesimal variation) \delta \gamma shows how the mechanical system's trajectory can ''hypothetically'' (hence the term ''virtual'') deviate very slightly from the actual trajectory \gamma of the system without violating the system's constraints. For every time instant t, \delta \gamma(t) is a vector tangential to the configuration space at the point \gamma(t). The vectors \delta \gamma(t) show the directions in which \gamma(t) can "go" without breaking the constraints. For example, the virtual displacements of the system consisting of a single particle on a two-dimensional surface fill up the entire tangent plane, assuming there are no additional constraints. If, however, the constraints require that all the trajectories \gamma pass through the given point \mathbf at the given time \tau, i.e. \gamma(\tau) = \mathbf, then \delta\gamma (\tau) = 0. Notations Let M be the configura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smooth Manifolds
In mathematics, a differentiable manifold (also differential manifold) is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One may then apply ideas from calculus while working within the individual charts, since each chart lies within a vector space to which the usual rules of calculus apply. If the charts are suitably compatible (namely, the transition from one chart to another is differentiable), then computations done in one chart are valid in any other differentiable chart. In formal terms, a differentiable manifold is a topological manifold with a globally defined differential structure. Any topological manifold can be given a differential structure locally by using the homeomorphisms in its atlas and the standard differential structure on a vector space. To induce a global differential structure on the local coordinate systems induced by the homeomorphisms, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Momentum
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass and is its velocity (also a vector quantity), then the object's momentum is : \mathbf = m \mathbf. In the International System of Units (SI), the unit of measurement of momentum is the kilogram metre per second (kg⋅m/s), which is equivalent to the newton-second. Newton's second law of motion states that the rate of change of a body's momentum is equal to the net force acting on it. Momentum depends on the frame of reference, but in any inertial frame it is a ''conserved'' quantity, meaning that if a closed system is not affected by external forces, its total linear momentum does not change. Momentum is also conserved in special relativity (with a modified formula) and, in a modified form, in electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action (physics)
In physics, action is a scalar quantity describing how a physical system has changed over time. Action is significant because the equations of motion of the system can be derived through the principle of stationary action. In the simple case of a single particle moving with a constant velocity ( uniform linear motion), the action is the momentum of the particle times the distance it moves, added up along its path; equivalently, action is twice the particle's kinetic energy times the duration for which it has that amount of energy. For more complicated systems, all such quantities are combined. More formally, action is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory (also called path or history) of the system as its argument and has a real number as its result. Generally, the action takes different values for different paths. Action has dimensions of energy × time or momentum × length, and its SI unit is joule-second (like the Planck constant ''h' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Initial Value Problem
In multivariable calculus, an initial value problem (IVP) is an ordinary differential equation together with an initial condition which specifies the value of the unknown function at a given point in the domain. Modeling a system in physics or other sciences frequently amounts to solving an initial value problem. In that context, the differential initial value is an equation which specifies how the system evolves with time given the initial conditions of the problem. Definition An initial value problem is a differential equation :y'(t) = f(t, y(t)) with f\colon \Omega \subset \mathbb \times \mathbb^n \to \mathbb^n where \Omega is an open set of \mathbb \times \mathbb^n, together with a point in the domain of f :(t_0, y_0) \in \Omega, called the initial condition. A solution to an initial value problem is a function y that is a solution to the differential equation and satisfies :y(t_0) = y_0. In higher dimensions, the differential equation is replaced with a family of equ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
