Equation of Motion: Deriving from Principle of Least Action

thepopasmurf
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
I'm going through Landau/Lifgarbagez's book II of theoretical physics. In it they have a derivation of the equation of motion from the principle of least action, however I don't understand one step.

Homework Statement


Derive the equation of motion:
\frac{d^2x^i}{ds^2}+\Gamma^i_{kj} \frac{dx^k}{ds} \frac{dx^j}{ds}=0
Using the principle of least action:
\delta S=-mc\delta\int ds=0


Homework Equations



\Gamma_{i,kj}=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{\partial g_{ik}}{\partial x^j}+\frac{\partial g_{ij}}{\partial x^k}-\frac{\partial g_{kj}}{\partial x^i}\right)

The Attempt at a Solution



\delta ds^2=2ds\delta ds = \delta(g_{ik}dx^i dx^k)=dx^i dx^k \frac{\partial g_{ik}}{\partial x^j}\delta x^j + 2g_{ik}dx^i d\delta x^k

Therefore

\delta S = -mc\int\left\{\frac{1}{2}\frac{dx^i}{ds}\frac{dx^k}{ds}\frac{\partial g_{ik}}{\partial x^j}\delta x^j + g_{ik}\frac{dx^i}{ds}\frac{d\delta x^k}{ds}\right\}

which equals

\delta S = -mc \int \left\{\frac{1}{2} \frac{dx^i}{ds} \frac{dx^k}{ds} \frac{\partial g_{ik}}{\partial x^j}\delta x^j - \frac{d}{ds}\left\{ g_{ik} \frac{x^i}{ds}\right\} \delta x^k \right\} ds

The step I don't understand is going from the second last line to the last line.
Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Are you sure this is ok ? You missed the d there. Ok, he takes out d/ds for the whole term (this gives 0 upon integration, because of the limit/boundary conditions), then by partial integration he gets that term with -. This is a standard trick when deriving Euler-Lagrange eqns from the action functional.
 
Thanks, that has made it clear for me.
 
Thread 'Need help understanding this figure on energy levels'
This figure is from "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" by Griffiths (3rd edition). It is available to download. It is from page 142. I am hoping the usual people on this site will give me a hand understanding what is going on in the figure. After the equation (4.50) it says "It is customary to introduce the principal quantum number, ##n##, which simply orders the allowed energies, starting with 1 for the ground state. (see the figure)" I still don't understand the figure :( Here is...
Thread 'Understanding how to "tack on" the time wiggle factor'
The last problem I posted on QM made it into advanced homework help, that is why I am putting it here. I am sorry for any hassle imposed on the moderators by myself. Part (a) is quite easy. We get $$\sigma_1 = 2\lambda, \mathbf{v}_1 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ 1 \end{pmatrix} \sigma_2 = \lambda, \mathbf{v}_2 = \begin{pmatrix} 1/\sqrt{2} \\ 1/\sqrt{2} \\ 0 \end{pmatrix} \sigma_3 = -\lambda, \mathbf{v}_3 = \begin{pmatrix} 1/\sqrt{2} \\ -1/\sqrt{2} \\ 0 \end{pmatrix} $$ There are two ways...
Back
Top