MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS EUGENE BUTKOV St. John’s University, New York tte: ‘or Shug. rt ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY Reasling, Massachusetts » Menlo Park, California - London » Sydnay - ManilaSS ¥ g g 2 8 = Dep Stupe® FIRST PRINTING 1973 A complete and unabridged reprint of the original American textbook, this World Student Series edition may be sold only in those countries to which it is con- signed by Addison-Wesley or its authorized trade distributors. It may not be re-exported from the country to which it has been consigned, and it may not be sold in the United States'of America or its possessions. Copyright © 1968 by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, with- ‘out the prior written permission of the publisher. Original edition published in the United: ‘States of America. Published simultaneously in Canada. Philippines copyright 1968 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68- (1391 | PREFACE During the past decade we have witnessed a remarkable increase iri the number of students secking higher education as well as the development of many new colleges and universities. The inevitable nonuniformity of conditions present in different institutions necessitates considerable variety in purpose, general approach, and the level of instruction in any given discipline. This has naturally contributed to the proliferation of texts on almost any topic, and the subject of mathematical pliysies is no exception. There is a number of texts in this field, and some of them are undoubtedly of outstanding quality. Nevertheless, many teachers often feel that none of the existing texts is properly suited, for one reason or another, for their particular courses. More important, students sometimes complain that they have difficulties studying the subject from texts of unquestionable m This is not as surprising as.it sounds: Some texts have an encyclopedic character, with the material arranged in a different order from the way it is usually taught; others become too much involved in complex mathematical analysis, preempting the available space from practical examples: still others cover a very wide variety of topics with utmost brevity, leaving the student to struggle with a number of difficult questions of theoretical nature. ‘True enough, a well-prepared and bright student should be able to find his way through most of such difficulties. A less-gifted student may, however, find it very difficult to grasp and absorb the multitude of new concepts strewn across an ad- vanced text. ‘Under these ciscumstances, it seems desirable to give more stress to the peda- gogical side ofa text to make it more readable to the student and more suitable for independent study. Hopefully, the present work represents a step in this direction. It has several features designed to conform to the path an average student may conceivably follow in acquiring the knowledge of the subject. First, the inductive approach is used in each chapter throughout the book. Fol- lowing the fundamentais of modern physics, the text is almost entirely devoted to linear problems, but the unifying concepts of linear space are fully developed rather Jate in the book after the student is exposed to a number of practical mathematical techniques. Also, almost every chapter starts with an example or discussion of elementary nature, with subject matter that is probably familiar to the reader. The introduction of new concepts is made against a familiar background and is later extended to more sophisticated situations. A typical example is Chapter °, where the basic aspects of partial differential equations are illustrated using the “elementary functions” exclusively. Another facet of this trend is the repeated use of the harmonic oscillator and the stretched string as physical models: no vvi PREFACE attempt is made to solve as many problems for the student as possible, but rather to show how various methods can be used to the same end within a familiar phys- ical context. In the process of learning, students inevitably pose a number of questions necessary to clarify the material under scrutiny, While most of these questions naturally belong to classroom discussion, it is certainly beneficial to attempt to anticipate some of them in a text. The Remarks and many footnotes are designed to contribute to this goal. The author hopes they answer some questions in the mind of the student as well as suggest some new ones, stimulating an interest in further inquiry. A number of cross-teferences serves a similar purpose, inviting the reader to make multiple use of various sections of the book. The absence of numbered formulas is intentional: if the student bothers to look into the indicated section or page, he should not simply check that the quoted formula “is indeed there,” but, rather, glance through the text and recall its origin and meaning. The question of mathematical rigor is quite important in the subject treated here, although it is sometimes controversial. It is the author's opinion that a theo- retical physicist should know where he stands, whether he is proving his own deduc- tions, quoting somebody else's proof, or just offering a reasonable conjecture. Consequently, he should be trained in this direction, and the texts should be written in this spirit. On the other hand, it would be unwise to overload every student with mathematics for two main reasons: first, because of the limitations of time in the classroom and the space in a text, and second, because physicists are apt to change their mathematical postulates as soon as experimental physics lends support to such suggestions. The reader can find examples of the latter philosophy in Chapters 4 and 6 of the text. Whether the author was able to follow these principles is left to the judgment of users of this book. Each chapter is supplied with its share of problems proportional to the time presumed to be allotted to its study. The student may find some of the problems rather difficult since they require more comprehension of the material rather than sheer technique. To balance this, a variety of hints and explanations are often supplied. Answers are not given because many problems contain the answer in their formulation ; the remaining ones may be used to test the ability of the student for independent work. The exercises within the text can be used as problems to test the students’ manipulative skills. For many of the methods of instruction of mathematical physics presented in this book, the author is indebted to his own teachers at the University of British Columbia and McGill University. The encouragement of his colleagues and students at St. John’s University and Hunter College of the City University of New York is greatly appreciated. Also, the author wishes to thank Mrs. Ludmilla Verenicin and Miss Anne Marie Nowom for their help in the preparation of the manuscript. Palo Alto, Calif. EB. August 1966 Chapter 1 1d 12 13 14 1s 16 17 18 19 Chapter 2 21 22 23 24 25 2.6 27 28 29 2.10 211 212° 2413 2.14 215 Chapter 3 3.1 32 33 34 35 36 CONTENTS Vectors, Matrices, and Coordinates Introduction . 1 Vectors in Cartesian Coordinate Systems. 1 Changes of Axes. Rotation Matrices toe eee 4 Repeated Rotations, Matrix Mulliplication. 2 2... kk 8 Skew Cartesian Systems. Matrices in General woe ee OH Scalarand Vector Fields © 2 2 2... ew. Vector Fieldsin Plane. 2 2 2 2 we wwe. Vector FieldsinSpace. 2 2 2 2 2. kk Curvilinear Coordinates 6 we Functions of a Complex Variable Complex Numbers... wee ee AF Basic Algebra and Geometry of Complex Numbers. soe ee AS ‘De Moivre Formuta and the Calculation of Roots. 2 2... 48 ‘Complex Functions. Euler's Formula. toe ee Applications of Euler's Formula... | Multivalued Functions and Riemann Surfaces see ee SB Analytic Functions, Cauchy Theorem. . re Other Integral Theorems. Cauchy Integral Formula |. 1 |. 62 Complex Sequencesand Series 2. 1 6 2 ww ee. 6 Taylor and Laurent Series... 6 ee Zeros and Singularities . cee ee ee B The Residue Theorem and its Applications woe ee ee ee 8B Conformal Mapping by Analytic Functions. 2 2 2... OT Complex Sphere and PointatInfinity 2 2. 2... . (102 Integral Representations. 2... wee 108 Linear Differential Equations of Second Order General Introduction. The Wronskian . soe ee ee IDB General Solution of The Homogeneous Equation . woes 25 ‘The Nonhomogencous Equation. Variation of Constants. ||. 126 Power Series Solutions... 2... we ee OB The Frobenius Method. 2... we ee we 10 Some other Methods of Solution. 2 2 2 | 2. ws. OT vii