Physics601Homework1DueFriday,September10

Hint:ForsomeoftheseproblemsitwillbehelpfultouseMathematicaorsome
othersymbolicmanipulationprogram.Ifyoumakeuseofsuchaprogramplease
includetheoutputwithyourhomeworksolutions.

Goldstein2.2,2.4,2.12

Inaddition:

1. Consideraparticlethatisconstrainedtomovein1dimensionandis
confinedtoa1dimensionalboxoflengthL.Theparticlebounceselastically
backandforthbetweenthewallsofthebox.Thusatthewallthereisan
impulsiveforcewhichflipsthevelocity( x x )conservingenergy.This
problemexploreswhathappensifattimet=0theparticlehasvelocity v 0 and
oneofthewallsismovedslowly(eitherinwardoroutward)sothatsizeof
theboxisnowafunctionoftimeL(t).Sincethewallismovingitcanaddor

removeenergyfromthesystem.Thegoalistofindanadiabaticinvariant

relatingtheenergytoL.
a. Showthatwhentheparticlehitsthemovingwall x x + 2 L .(Hint,
whatdoestheprocesslooklikefromwallspointofview.)
b. Quantifywhatismeantbyslowlyintermsoftheparametersofthe
problem.

c. Showthat L2 E isanadiabaticinvariant.
d. Fromyourknowledgeofthe1dimenisonalparticleintheboxin
quantummechanics,explainwhythisresultisexpected.

2. ConsidertheLagrangianforasimple1dimesnionalharmonicoscillator:
L(x, x ) = 12 m x 2 12 m 02 x 2 where 0 isaparameter.

a. FindtheequationofmotionfromLagrangesequations.

Considerachangeofvariablestothegeneralizedcoordinate q = sinh1 (x)

b. Usingtheresultofa.,findtheequationofmotionforq.
c. FindtheLagrangianforq(i.e.find L(q, q ) ).

d. FindtheLagrangesequationofmotionfor L(q, q ) .
e. Howdotheresultsofb.andd.compare?Whyisthisexpected?

3. Againconsiderasimple1dimensionalharmonicoscillatorwith
L(x, x ) = 12 m x 2 12 m 02 x 2 .Considerafamilyoftrajectorieswith x(t) subject
totheboundaryconditions x(0) = 0, x(T) = l .Supposefurtherthatthe
familyoftrajectoriesincludesthesolutionoftheexactequationsofmotion.

Anexampleofsuchafamilyisthesetoffunction x(t, ) =

lsin( t)
where
sin( T)

isaparameter.

a. Verifythatthisfamilysatisfiestheboundaryconditions.

b. Showthatfor = 0 thistrajectorycorrespondtothesolutionof
thefullequationsofmotion.
c. Calculatetheactionasafunctionof :i.e.find S( ).

d. Showexplicitlybycalsulationgtheactionthat

dS( )
= 0 at = 0 .
d

Explainwhythisisexpected

4. Problem2consideredafamilyoftrajectoriescontainingtheexactsolutionof

theequationsofmotion.Supposeonehasawhenafamilyoftrajectories
whichdoesnotcontaintheexactsolution.Thevariationalprincipalcanstill
beofuseinfindingapproximatesolutions.Considertheharmonicoscillator
ofproblem2withthesameboundaryconditions.Considerthefamilyof
t3 t
t
trajectoriesgivenby x(t,c) = l + c l 3 wherecisaparameter.
T
T
T

a. Verifythatthisfamilysatisfiestheboundaryconditions.
b. Calculatetheactionasafunctionofc:i.e.find S(c).

c. Minimize
S(c) tofindthebestapproximationtothefullsolutionof
theformconsidered.
d. Plottheexactsolutionandtheapproximatesolutionsforthreecases:

i)T 0 = 1 ii)T 0 = 2 iii)T 0 = 3 .Qualitativelydiscussthedifference

inthesecasesandwhythesedifferencesmakesense.