Sunday, 6 May 2018

classical mechanics - Question about Principle of least action - Landau


I have this conceptual question: In Landau's book of classical mechanics, about the principle of least action, it's written:


δS=Lvδq|t2t1+ t2t1 dt(Lq ddtLv)δq =0,


where q=q(t) is the position function, v=v(t) velocity function, S the action, and L the Lagrangian of the system.


There is the condition δq(t1)=δq(t2)=0. So the first term is zero, and then it says " there remains an integral which must vanish for all values of δq. This can be so only if the integrand is zero identically.


Well I can't understand why



(Lq ddtLv)=0.



Answer



Consider the following integral t2t1F(t)δq(t)dt=0, for every possible δq. Then choose a function δq which has a large value but is different from zero only in an infinitesimal neighborhood of a point t0[t1,t2]. Then, 0=t2t1F(t)δq(t)dt=t0+ϵt0ϵF(t)δq(t)dt=F(t0)t0+ϵt0ϵδq(t)dt. In the last equal sign we took F out of the integral because the function is approximately constant in the infinitesimal interval 2ϵ. Now, the last integral above is different from zero, so F(t0) has to vanish. Repeat this argument for all t[t1,t2] and you obtain that F(t) is identically zero. This is basically the fundamental lemma of variational calculus.


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