Undergrad Functional Derivatives: Overview & Tips

Click For Summary
Functional derivatives involve including constant terms when performing expansions. By substituting J with J + εdJ and expanding, higher-order terms in ε can be disregarded. The coefficient of ε corresponds to the integral of the functional derivative dZ(J)/dJ(x) multiplied by dJ(x). This approach is essential for understanding the behavior of functionals in calculus of variations. Mastery of these concepts is crucial for advanced applications in mathematical physics and optimization.
The black vegetable
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
TL;DR
Can someone please explain how you take a functional derivative of a generating function. I have included a basic example of how I understand it, if it's not the case can someone explain explicitly for a dummy how this is performed. My question is in picture form, as it's much easier for me to do it this way.
Many thanks
Hi
Capture.PNG

In the last sentence I mean you do include constant terms like I have done when taking the product above?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Replace ##J## by ##J+\epsilon dJ##, expand, drop terms involving higher powers of ##\epsilon##. The coefficient of ##\epsilon## is the integral of the functional derivative ##dZ(J)/dJ(x)## multiplied by ##dJ(x)##.
 
  • Like
Likes vanhees71
Time reversal invariant Hamiltonians must satisfy ##[H,\Theta]=0## where ##\Theta## is time reversal operator. However, in some texts (for example see Many-body Quantum Theory in Condensed Matter Physics an introduction, HENRIK BRUUS and KARSTEN FLENSBERG, Corrected version: 14 January 2016, section 7.1.4) the time reversal invariant condition is introduced as ##H=H^*##. How these two conditions are identical?

Similar threads

  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
969
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
1K
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
2K
  • · Replies 0 ·
Replies
0
Views
1K
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
3K