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Computer Science > Symbolic Computation

arXiv:2308.09837 (cs)
[Submitted on 18 Aug 2023]

Title:Field theory with the Maxima computer algebra system

Authors:Viktor T. Toth
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Abstract:The Maxima computer algebra system, the open-source successor to MACSYMA, the first general-purpose computer algebra system that was initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1960s and later distributed by the United States Department of Energy, has some remarkable capabilities, some of which are implemented in the form of add-on, "share" packages that are distributed along with the core Maxima system. One such share package is itensor, for indicial tensor manipulation. One of the more remarkable features of itensor is functional differentiation. Through this, it is possible to use itensor to develop a Lagrangian field theory and derive the corresponding field equations. In the present note, we demonstrate this capability by deriving Maxwell's equations from the Maxwell Lagrangian, and exploring the properties of the system, including current conservation.
Comments: 6 pages
Subjects: Symbolic Computation (cs.SC); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2308.09837 [cs.SC]
  (or arXiv:2308.09837v1 [cs.SC] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2308.09837
Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/S0129183124502346

Submission history

From: Viktor T. Toth [view email]
[v1] Fri, 18 Aug 2023 22:12:18 UTC (9 KB)
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