Subtleties about Hamilton's equation

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SUMMARY

This discussion addresses the applicability of Hamilton's equations in non-conservative systems, particularly in the context of electromagnetic forces. It establishes that while Hamilton's equations are fundamentally based on the total internal energy of a system, their validity may be challenged when forces do not satisfy the third principle of dynamics. The conversation highlights the need to incorporate electric and magnetic potentials, represented as V(r,t) and A(r,t), into the Hamiltonian framework, necessitating simultaneous solutions of Hamilton's equations and Maxwell's equations to fully describe the dynamics of charged particles.

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  • Understanding of Hamiltonian mechanics
  • Familiarity with Maxwell's equations
  • Knowledge of non-conservative forces
  • Basic concepts of electrodynamics
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  • Study the implications of non-conservative forces on Hamiltonian mechanics
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Physicists, students of classical mechanics, and researchers in electrodynamics seeking to deepen their understanding of Hamiltonian systems and their limitations in non-conservative contexts.

Harry Mason
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Hello everybody,
from a non-relativistic point of view , taking into account an N-point particle isolated system, in which interacting with each others in principle we can describe the time-evolution of the system, defined by hamilton's equations:

9650ddf3b13f0cc286769092629ad1c9.png


Where H is the total internal energy of the sistem.

The question is: if forces between particles does not satisfy the 3rd principle of dynamic (like electromagnetic forces) and they're not conservative are the hamilton's equation always true? What's the new physical interpretation of the hamiltonian?

Thank you.
 
Not sure for dissipative system (but I found a link that might be helpful http://www.m-hikari.com/ams/ams-2010/ams-17-20-2010/biswasAMS17-20-2010.pdf)

But for the case of electrodynamics the thing is, in principle, like the following. For each particle You have to replace

[itex]P^2/2m[/itex]

for

[itex](P-eA(r,t))^2/2m+eV(r,t)[/itex]

Where [itex]V (r,t)[/itex] and [itex]A(r,t)[/itex] are the electric and magnetic potentials and their dynamics is given by Maxwell's equations.

So, in principle to find the complete dynamics you have to solve at the same time the Maxwell's equations plus the Hamilton equation (they will be Newton equations with the Lorentz force), but this approach have a lot of problems that I think have not been solved so far.
 

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