Getting lorentz electromagnetic force from hamilton principle

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on deriving the Lorentz force law from Hamilton's equations using the Hamiltonian for a charged particle in an electromagnetic field. The Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of the vector and scalar potentials, leading to equations that describe the motion of the particle. By substituting the Hamiltonian into Hamilton's equations, the relationship between the particle's position and momentum is established. The derivation ultimately shows that the force acting on the particle can be expressed as the sum of electric and magnetic contributions, confirming the Lorentz force law. The calculations demonstrate the connection between Hamiltonian mechanics and electromagnetic theory.
y.moghadamnia
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the title is pretty clear, so we have this F=q( E+V/c X B) the force for a point charge q in an electromagnetic field. and we have the formula to the hamiltonian of electromag force:
H= (P+ q/c.A)/2m _ e\phi.
the question is how can I get the F from the hamilton principle, using the hamiltonian above.
dont tell me I got to defrentiate from H with respect to P and q and all that, because I know it. I want calculations please. thanks for helping! :-)
 
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I'll show you how to do this in SI units, instead of CGS. The question is to derive the Lorentz force law using Hamilton's equations and the Hamiltonian of a charged particle in the presence the vector and scalar potentials, ie.
$$H=\frac{(\vec p-e \vec A)^2}{2m}+e V ,\;\;\;\;\;\;(1)$$
where e and m are the charge and mass of the particle respectivley. Hamilton's equations are
$$\dot q_i=\frac{\partial H}{\partial p_i} \;\;\;\;\;\;(2)$$
and
$$\dot p_i=-\frac{\partial H}{\partial q_i} , \;\;\;\;\;\;(3)$$
where the dot refers to ordinary differentiation with respect to time. In order to follow the solution, you must be familiar with Einstein summation convention, the Levi-Civita symbol and the Kronecker delta

Substituting eq'n (1) into (2) gives
\begin{align*}\dot q_i =& \frac{\partial}{\partial p_i}\left(\frac{1}{2m}\sum_{j=1}^3\left(p_j-e A_j\right)^2\right) \\
=&\frac{1}{m}\left(p_i-e A_i \right) .\end{align*}
Multiplying both sides by m gives
$$m \dot q_i = p_i -e A_i \;\;\;\;\;\;(4)$$
Differentiating with respect to time yields,
$$m \ddot q_i = \dot p_i -e \dot A_i \;\;\;\;\;\;(5)$$

Now substituting in eqn (1) into (3) and keeping in mind that the vector potential A is a function of the coordinates,
\begin{align*}\dot p_i=\frac{e}{m}\sum_j \left(p_j - e A_j\right)\frac{\partial A_j}{\partial q_i} -e \frac{\partial V}{\partial q_i} \end{align*}
and substituting in eqn (4) gives
$$\dot p_i=e v_j \partial_i A_j - e \partial_i V \;\;\;\;\;\;(6)$$
where I'm using Einstein summation convention (summation of the index j here) and I've defined
$$v_j\equiv\dot q_j$$
and
$$\partial_i\equiv\frac{\partial}{\partial q_i} .$$

Plug (6) into (5) to yield,
$$m \ddot q_i =e v_j \partial_i A_j - e \partial_i V - e \dot A_i\;\;\;\;\;\;(7)$$
(note we're still using Einstein summation convention)

Now,
\begin{align}\frac{d A_i}{dt}=&\frac{\partial A_i}{\partial t}+\frac{\partial A_i}{\partial q_j}\frac{dq_i}{dt} \\
\dot A_i =&\frac{\partial A_i}{\partial t}+v_j \partial_j A_i\end{align}
Substituting this result into (7) and rearranging a bit, we get
$$m \ddot q_i = e \left(v_j \partial_i A_j - v_j \partial_j A_i \right)+e\left(-\frac{\partial V}{\partial q_i}-\frac{\partial A_i}{\partial t}\right) \;\;\;\;\;\;(8)$$

I need to prove that the first term here is actually just the i-th component of v cross B, so to do that I employ the Levi-Civita symbol,
\begin{align}\left(\vec v \times \vec B\right)_i = \left(\vec v \times\left(\vec\nabla \times \vec A\right)\right)_i=&\epsilon_{ijk}v_j \left(\vec\nabla \times \vec A\right)_k \\
=&\epsilon_{ijk}v_j\epsilon_{klm}\partial_l A_m \\
=&\epsilon_{ijk}\epsilon_{lmk}v_j \partial_l A_m
\end{align}
and using the identity (see Wiki's article on Levi-Civita),
$$\epsilon_{ijk}\epsilon_{lmk}=\delta_{il}\delta_{jm}-\delta_{im}\delta_{jl}$$,
we get
$$\left(\vec v \times \vec B\right)_j=v_m\partial_i A_m - v_j \partial_l A_i$$
or upon relabelling,
$$\left(\vec v \times \vec B\right)_j=v_j\partial_i A_j - v_j \partial_j A_i \;\;\;\;\;\;(9)$$

We'll use this in a second, but first consider that
$$\vec E = -\vec \nabla V - \frac{\partial \vec A}{\partial t}$$
(see Griffiths EM book) or in component form,
$$E_i = -\frac{\partial V}{\partial q_i} - \frac{\partial A_i}{\partial t} \;\;\;\;\;\;(10)$$

Finally, substituting (9) and (10) into (8) yields
$$m \ddot q_i = e\left(\vec v \times \vec B \right)_i + e E_i$$
or written in vector form,
$$m \ddot{\vec{q}} = e\left(\vec E +\vec v\times\vec B\right)$$
which is the Lorentz force law. QED.
 
It may be shown from the equations of electromagnetism, by James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860’s, that the speed of light in the vacuum of free space is related to electric permittivity (ϵ) and magnetic permeability (μ) by the equation: c=1/√( μ ϵ ) . This value is a constant for the vacuum of free space and is independent of the motion of the observer. It was this fact, in part, that led Albert Einstein to Special Relativity.
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