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    CM 09 Maupertuis

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    osama hasan
    1) Maupertuis proposed a principle of least action in 1747, before the work of Lagrange and Hamilton. He suggested that a body moves along a path that minimizes the sum of the products of mass, speed, and displacement over time. 2) Maupertuis' principle states that for a given fixed total energy E, the path y(x) between two fixed points in space will be the one that minimizes the "abbreviated action" S0, regardless of the time taken. 3) For a particle in a potential V(r), the abbreviated action reduces to the integral of 2m(E - V) along the path length, whose minimum gives the classical path according

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    CM 09 Maupertuis

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    osama hasan
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    1) Maupertuis proposed a principle of least action in 1747, before the work of Lagrange and Hamilton. He suggested that a body moves along a path that minimizes the sum of the products of mass, speed, and displacement over time. 2) Maupertuis' principle states that for a given fixed total energy E, the path y(x) between two fixed points in space will be the one that minimizes the "abbreviated action" S0, regardless of the time taken. 3) For a particle in a potential V(r), the abbreviated action reduces to the integral of 2m(E - V) along the path length, whose minimum gives the classical path according

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    1) Maupertuis proposed a principle of least action in 1747, before the work of Lagrange and Hamilton. He suggested that a body moves along a path that minimizes the sum of the products of mass, speed, and displacement over time. 2) Maupertuis' principle states that for a given fixed total energy E, the path y(x) between two fixed points in space will be the one that minimizes the "abbreviated action" S0, regardless of the time taken. 3) For a particle in a potential V(r), the abbreviated action reduces to the integral of 2m(E - V) along the path length, whose minimum gives the classical path according

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    21 views3 pages

    CM 09 Maupertuis

    Uploaded by

    osama hasan
    1) Maupertuis proposed a principle of least action in 1747, before the work of Lagrange and Hamilton. He suggested that a body moves along a path that minimizes the sum of the products of mass, speed, and displacement over time. 2) Maupertuis' principle states that for a given fixed total energy E, the path y(x) between two fixed points in space will be the one that minimizes the "abbreviated action" S0, regardless of the time taken. 3) For a particle in a potential V(r), the abbreviated action reduces to the integral of 2m(E - V) along the path length, whose minimum gives the classical path according

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    9.

    Maupertuis’ Principle: Minimum Action Path at Fixed Energy


    Michael Fowler

    Divine Guidance
    Incredibly, Maupertuis came up with a kind of principle of least action in 1747, long before the work of
    Lagrange and Hamilton. Maupertuis thought a body moved along a path such that the sum of products
    of mass, speed and displacement taken over time was minimized, and he saw that as the hand of God at
    work. This didn’t go over well with his skeptical fellow countrymen, such as Voltaire, and in fact his
    formulation wasn’t quite right, but history has given him partial credit, his name on a least action
    principle.

    Suppose we are considering the motion of a particle moving around in a plane from some initial point
    and time ( x1 , y1 , t1 ) to some final ( x2 , y2 , t2 ) . Suppose its potential energy is a function of position,
    V ( x, y ) . For example, imagine aiming for the hole on a rather bumpy putting green, but also requiring
    that the ball take a definite time, say two seconds, from being hit to falling in the hole. The action
    principle we’ve talked about so far will give the path, parameterized by time, ( x ( t ) , y ( t ) ) .

    It's Not About Time


    But that’s not what you’re interested in doing! Of course you want the ball to get in the hole, but you’re
    not obsessed with how long it takes to get there. Yet without that time requirement, there are obviously
    many possible paths. If you hit it really fast, so its kinetic energy is far greater than the gravitational
    potential energy variations in the bumpy green, it will go close to a straight line (we’re assuming that
    when it gets over the hole, it will drop in). As you slow down, the winning path will deviate from a
    straight line because of the uneven terrain. So the physical path to the hole will vary continuously with
    initial kinetic energy.

    Maupertuis’ principle is about what is the path y ( x ) to the hole, say from ( x1 , y1 , t1 ) to ( x2 , y2 , any t ) ,
    for a given initial energy E .

    So now we’re fixing the beginning and end points in space, but allowing possible variation in the final
    ( )
    time. Also, we’re fixing the energy: H x, y , p x , p y = E . This means that in varying the path to
    minimize the action, we must restrict ourselves to the class of paths having energy E . In the bumpy
    putting green, you’re giving the ball a fixed initial speed v0 , and trying different initial directions to get it
    in the hole.

    From the expression for the differential of action in terms of varying the endpoint (as well as the rest of
    the path—remember, that gives the integral term that disappears along the dynamical path), we have
    all δ qi = 0 (the endpoint is fixed at the hole), leaving

    ∑ piδ qi − H δ t =
    δS =
    i
    − Eδ t.

    (Since we’re restricting to paths with energy E , H can be replaced by E .)


    2

    The Abbreviated Action


    Writing the action in the integral form along this constant energy path, we can trivially do the time
    integral:

    S =∫ ∑ pi dqi − E ( t − t1 ) =S0 − E ( t − t1 ) .
    i

    Therefore, from the result δ S = − Eδ t it necessarily follows that

    = ∫ ∑ pi dqi 0.
    δ S0 δ=
    i

    S0 is called the abbreviated action: this is Maupertuis’ principle.

    The abbreviated action for the physical path is the minimum among all paths satisfying energy
    conservation with total energy E and passing through the designated final point—we don’t care when.
    Note that not all values of E will work—for example, if we start putting the ball from a low point in the
    green, we’ll need to give it enough energy to get out of the hollow to begin with. But there will be valid
    physical paths for a wide range of energy values, since the final arrival time is flexible.

    Naturally, since this is a path through configuration space, to evaluate the abbreviated action

    S0 = ∫ ∑ pi dqi
    i

    =
    it must be expressed in terms of the q's. For the usual Lagrangian L T ( qi , qi ) − V ( qi ) , with
    T= 1
    2 ∑ a ( q ) q q
    ik i k , and momenta

    pi == ∑ aik ( q ) qk ,

    we find the abbreviated action

    =S0 ∑ p dq ∫ ∑ a
    ∫= i
    i i
    i
    ik dqi dqk / dt.

    This is indeed an integral along a path in configuration space, but we need to get rid of the dt.
    Physically, we can see how to do this—since we know the total energy E , the kinetic energy at a point is
    E − V ( qi ) , so that determines the speed, hence the time dt to move by dqi .

    That is, (following Landau)

    ( q ) q q ∑
    a ( q ) dq dq
    − V ( q)
    E= 1
    2 ∑a = ik
    2 ( dt )
    i k
    ik
    2
    i k
    ,

    from which
    3

    aik dqi dqk


    dt = ∑ 2(E −V ) .

    (This doesn’t look like a very healthy mathematical object, but as you’ll see, it’s fine.)

    Hence

    =S0 ∫∑
    = p dq ∫ ∑ a
    i
    i i
    i
    ik dqi=
    dqk / dt ∫  2 ( E − V ) ∑ aik dqi dqk  .

    To take a very simple case; if there is no potential, and just a free particle, aik = mδ ik , this is nothing but
    the length of the path multiplied by 2mE , minimized by a straight line between the two points.

    If we have a particle of mass m in a spatially varying potential V ( r ) , the abbreviated action reduces to

    =S0 ∫ 2m ( E − V )d ,

    where d is an element of path length. (This is obvious, really—the square root is the absolute value of
    the momentum, and the momentum vector, of course, points along the path.)

    The matrix aik , sometimes called the mass matrix, is evidently a metric, a measure in the configuration
    space, by which the “length” of the paths, and particularly the minimum action path, are measured.
    Exercise: use Maupertuis’ principle to find the path of a cannonball, energy E , fired at a target which is x meters
    distant horizontally, both cannon and target being at sea level (think ships!).

    Maupertuis’ Principle and the Time-Independent Schrödinger Equation


    Recall that the action, multiplied by −i / , is equivalent to the phase in quantum mechanics. The case
    we’re discussing here is evidently related to the time-independent Schrodinger equation, the one for an
    energy eigenstate, with the time-dependent phase factored out. In other words, imagine solving the
    time-independent Schrodinger equation for a particle in a potential by summing over paths. In the
    classical limit, the abbreviated action gives the total phase change along a path. Minimizing this to find
    the classical path exactly parallels our earlier discussion of Fermat’s principle of least time, paths close
    to Maupertuis’ minimum have total phase change along them all the same to leading order, and so add
    coherently.

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