Basdevant Variational Principles in Physics

2. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-3-031-21692-3
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 242 Seiten, eBook

Variational principles have proven to be surprisingly fertile. For example, Fermat used variational methods to demonstrate that light follows the fastest route from one point to another, an idea which came to be a cornerstone of geometrical optics. This book explains variational principles and charts their use throughout modern physics. It examines the analytical mechanics of Lagrange and Hamilton, the basic tools of any physicist. The book also offers simple but rich first impressions of Einstein’s General Relativity, Feynman’s Quantum Mechanics, and more that reveal amazing interconnections between various fields of physics.

Zielgruppe

Graduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Basdevant, Jean-Louis

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1. Structure of physical theories.- Chapter 2. Variational Principles.- Chapter 3. The Analytical Mechanics of Lagrange.- Chapter 4. Hamilton’s canonical formalism.- Chapter 5. Action, Optics, Hamilton-Jacobi equation.- Chapter 6. Lagrangian Field Theory.- Chapter 7. Motion in a Curved Space.- Chapter 8. Gravitational waves.- Chapter 9. Feynman’s Path Integrals in quantum Mechanics

Über Autor(innen)

Jean-Louis Basdevant, graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure (1958-1963), Ph.D. at Strasbourg University (1967), is Assistant Researcher and Director of Research at the CNRS (1963-2007), CERN (1970-1972), Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique (1969-2004), and Nominated Honorary Professor (2004).