LAGRANGIAN ees | |) HAMILTONIAN MECHANICS Solutions to the Exercises M. G. CALKIN Dalhousie University Ce anada Wp wor Scientific Singapore * New Jersey «Londons Hong KongPublished by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. P.O Box 128, Farrer Road, Singapore 912805 USA office: Suite 1B, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Pubtication Data ‘A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. LAGRANGIAN AND HAMILTONIAN MECHANICS: SOLUTIONS TO ‘THE EXERCISES Copyright © 1999 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. Alll rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher. ISBN 981-02-3782-0 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Printed in Singapore by Uto-PrintPREFACE This book contains the exercises from the intermediate/advanced classical mechanics text Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics (World Scientific Pub. Co. Pte. Led., Si , 1996) together with their complete solutions. In a few of the exercises I have seen t to make minor changes in the wording; these are marked by asterisks. T have not included the final Exercise 10-5, which is really an open-ended mini research Project. ‘The present work is intended primarily for instructors who are using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics in their course. It is hoped that it will assist them in choosing suitable assignments for their students, and that it will occasionally provide new insights. Instructors may also wish to photocopy py and post the solutions to exercises with which their ‘students have had This book may also be used, together with Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, by those who are studying mechanics on their own. In this case I strongly urge the individuals to make serious efforts to work out a substantial number of the relevant exercises on completing their study of each chapter and before looking at what I have written here. Only in this way will such individuals come face to face with, and hopefully overcome, the various difficulties which the exercises present. Exercises, whether mental or physical, are meant to be done, not read about! Melvin G. Calkin Halifax, Nova Scotia September, 1998Preface CONTENTS CHAPTERI NEWTON’S LAWS Exercise 1.01 Exercise 1.02 Exercise 1.03 Exercise 1.04 Exercise 1.05 Exercise 1.06 Exercise 1.07 Exercise 1.08 Exercise 1.09 Exercise 1.10 Exercise 1.11 Exercise 1.12 Exercise 1.13 Exercise 1.14 Exercise 1.15 Exercise 1.16 Exercise 1.17 Exercise 1.18 CHAPTER II THE PRINCIPLE OF VIRTUAL WORK AND - D’ALEMBERT’S PRINCIPLE Exercise 2.01 Exercise 2.02 Exercise 2.03 Exercise 2.04 Exercise 2.05 Exercise 2.06 Exercise 2.07 Exercise 2.08 Exercise 2.09 Exericse 2.10 vii 1 12 12 14 14 15 18 25 27 29 32 33 34 38 41 41 41 42 43 43 45 47 48 49viii Contents CHAPTER III LAGRANGE’S EQUATIONS Exercise 3.01 Exercise 3.02 Exercise 3.03 Exercise 3.04 Exercise 3.05 Exercise 3.06 Exercise 3.07 Exercise 3.08 Exercise 3.09 Exercise 3.10 ’ Exercise 3.11 Exercise 3.12 Exercise 3.13 Exercise 3.14 Exercise 3.15 CHAPTERIV THE PRINCIPLE OF STATIONARY ACTION OR HAMILTON'S PRINCIPLE Exercise 4.01 Exercise 4.02 Exercise 4.03 Exercise 4.04 Exercise 4.05 Exercise 4.06 Exercise 4.07 Exercise 4.08 Exercise 4.09 Exercise 4.10 Exercise 4.11 Exercise 4.12Contents CHAPTER V INVARIANCE TRANSFORMATIONS AND. CONSTANTS OF THE MOTION Exercise 5.01 Exercise 5.02 Exercise 5.03 Exercise 5.04 CHAPTER VI HAMILTON’S EQUATIONS Exercise 6.01 Exercise 6.02 Exercise 6.03 Exercise 6.04 Exercise 6.05 Exercise 6.06 Exercise 6.07 Exercise 6.08 Exercise 6.09 Exercise 6.10 Exercise 6.11 Exercise 6.12 Exercise 6.13 Exercise 6.14 Exercise 6.15 CHAPTER VII CANONICAL TRANSFORMATIONS Exercise 7.01 Exercise 7.02 Exercise 7.03 Exercise 7.04 Exercise 7.05 Exercise 7.06 Exercise 7.07 Exercise 7.08 Exercise 7.09 Exercise 7.10 Exercise 7.11 ix 101 101 103 105 106 110 110 110 112 113 113 114 116 118 120 122 125 127 128 131 134 138 138 139 140 141 143 145 146 148 150 151 153x Contents CHAPTER VIII HAMILTON-JACOBI THEORY Exercise 8.01 Exercise 8.02 Exercise 8.03 Exercise 8.04 Exercise 8.05 Exercise 8.06 Exercise 8.07 Exercise 8.08 Exercise 8.09 Exercise 8.10 Exericse 8.11 Exercise 8.12 Exercise 8.13 CHAPTER IX ACTION-ANGLE VARIABLES Exercise 9.01 Exercise 9.02 Exercise 9.03 Exercise 9.04 Exercise 9.05 Exercise 9.06 Exercise 9.07 Exercise 9.08 Exercise 9.09 Exercise 9.10 Exercise 9.11 Exercise 9.12 CHAPTER X NON-INTEGRABLE SYSTEMS Exercise 10.01 Exercise 10.02 Exercise 10.03 Exercise 10.04 157 157 158 161 164 165 168 71 174 177 178 181 184 188 192 194 197 199 202 207 209 2u1 213 214 215 217 221 221 222 227CHAPTER I NEWTON'S LAWS Exercise 1.01 A particle of mass m moves in one dimension x in a potential well V = Vo tan?(sx/2a) where Vo and a are constants. Find, for given total energy E, the position x as a function of time and the period t of the motion. In particular, examine and interpret the low energy (E << Vo) and high energy (E >> Vo) limits of your expressions. Solution Energy conservation yields fi? + Vo tan?(x/2a) = E. This can be rearranged to give - 3 ; Gl jews Vo tan? (rxx/28) “Gl ee = (E+ Vo)sin®(rx/2a) To do the x-integration, we set + ( 1X EB. m ™’ E sin) “five oes He F)e- eA cosede, and hence obtain 6-b0- x 3 Peto, ‘The motion is thus given by (Fig. 1) E aio 2E + Vo) Dee to)- E+Vo 2a m2 Chapter I: Newton's Laws Ex. 1.01, Fig. 1 NE Voy" ‘The turing points +A of the motion are given by The motion is periodic with period so 32) - ae (orty un( $4) » } For E << Vo we have mA/2a << 1 and can use the small angle approximation to write Fo [Foe (z 2Vo. Pa1+ 4). This is simple harmonic motion with angular frequency «o = x, 20 and amplitude ™ 2fE fe .., , . . =.J— =./—y. This is to be expected, since for small amplitude motion the wYVo mwo potential approximates the "harmonic oscillator potential” Vo(ax/2a)? = $mu}x?. For E >> Vo we have sin( S) - se im '* *) 80, now dropping the arbitrary phase, m™ x [2B m (2E . ta” 2a yt 20% or 2a Vim ttn De with on, = 0,+1,#2,--.Exercise 1.01 3 That is, 2B 2E xe Jo t-dan, or - PE e ate. +p. ‘The integers n, must be chosen appropriately; see Fig. 2. on=0 Ex. 1.01, Fig. 2 In this limit the particle oscillates back and forth at constant speed -{2E/m between rigid walls at x= +a. This is to be expected, since in this limit the potential approximates the “infinite square well potential” V=0 for Ixia.4 Chapter I: Newton's Laws Exercise 1.02 For each of the following central potentials V(r) sketch the effective potential 2 Veale) = Ey + Vie), and use your sketch to classify and draw qualitative pictures of the possible orbits. @ Vi)=tk? 3D isotropic harmonic oscillator (>) V(r)=-V, for ra © Vo--5 ® vo--% e © Va)e-k Yukawa potential Note that the qualitative shape of Vgez(r) versus r may depend on L and on the various parameters; consider all cases (but assume that the given parameters are positive). Solution (a) The effective potential is vol Vert) = stk For r—>0 the term L?/2mr? dominates and Vey. For r+ the term $k” dominates and again Vm —> ©. The effective potential has a minimum at 2 Met Es ser=0; that is, at reo where r$=L?/mk. The minimum of the effective potential is Very (fo) = Lok/m = Ep. This effective potential is shown in Fig. 1.Exercise 1.02 5 y Ty qt Tt Ex. 1.02, Fig, 1 For E = Ep the orbit radius is fixed at rp and the orbit is a circle. For E> Ep the radius oscillates back and forth between turning radii r, and r, and the orbit looks qualitatively like Fig, 2. Ex. 1.02, Fig. 2 The motion of a particle in this potential is studied in detail in Exercise 1.14. It turns out that the orbit is actually an ellipse with geometric center at the force center (Fig. 3). Ex. 1.02, Fig. 36 Chapter I: Newton's Laws (0) The effective potential is — 1L?/2mr? - V, for ra For r-+0 the term L?/2mr? dominates and Very > ©. For r—- © Vey —>0 from above. Further, Veg has a discontinuity of V, at r=a. There are two possibilities for Vert, depending on the magnitude of V,. These are shown in Fig. 4. For V, > L?/2ma? the effective potential goes negative (Fig. 4(a)) whereas for V, L?/2ma? V, a and then increases back to infinity, The orbit looks qualitatively like Fig. 6.Exercise 1.02 7 Ex. 1.02, Fig. 6 In fact, since in this case the particle never encounters a force, the orbit is a straight line which passes by the potential region, Fig. 7. Ex. 1.02, Fig. 7 For situation (4) in Fig. (4) the orbit radius decreases from infinity to a minimum radius 13 1, Vex & +? Fig. 9(0)). Ex. 1.02, Fig. 9a) Ex. 1.02, Fig. 9(b) For E>0 and L?/2mk <1 (situation (1)) there is no inner turning radius and the particle Spirals in to the force center. The orbit is a capture orbit like Fig. 10. Ex, 1.02, Fig. 10 Indeed, since L = bV2mE where b is the impact parameter, we can write the condition for capture as b? 0 and L?/2mk>1 (situation (3)), the orbit is a scattering orbit like Fig. 6. (d) The effective potential is vox Vou (t) = a eer (1) ome For r—*0 the term -k/r* dominates and Veg —>-~. For r—»o the term L?/2mr” dominates and Veq —* 0 from above. There is one axis crossing atExercise 1.02 9 Lee Ver = -a70; ome that is, at r? = 2mk/L?. There is one extremum (a maximum) at 2 Aen 4k a met eo that is, at r?=4mk/L?. The value of the effective potential at its extremum is Vey (max) = L4/16m7k = b4E7/4k where b is the impact parameter. The resulting effective potential is shown in Fig. 11. Veet Ex. 1.02, Fig. 11 For E> V,ey(max) and thus b* < 4k/E (situation (1)) the orbit is a capture orbit like Fig. 10. The capture cross section is Ocapaure © Dina * 20YK/E. For E< Veq-(max) and initial orbit radius less than «/4mk/L? (situation (2)) the orbit has an outer turning radius but again no inner turning radius and the orbit spirals in to the force center. For f4mk/ E < Vge(max) and initial radius greater than ‘1? (situation (3)) the orbit is a scattering orbit like Fig. 6. (e) The effective potential is ar vive Veet (1) = =z - k— eal) 2mr’ rt For r—+0 the term L?/2mr* dominates and Veg -* ®. For r—> 0 the term L?/2mr* again dominates (the exponential causes the second term to decrease faster than any negative power of r, as r—» © ) and Veq —* 0 from above. To determine the shape of Veg in between, we first check whether or not there are any axis crossings (in view of the limiting behavior there must be zero or an even number of them). These occur at radii for which10 Chapter I: Newton's Laws ol?/2mk = ore“™. ‘The right-hand side of this equation, as a function of ar, is shown in Fig. 12. (arjexp(-ar) 0.3679 1.0 ar Ex. 1.02, Fig. 12 The peak in Fig. (12) is at ar = 1 and the height of the peak is 1/e = 0.3679. Thus, if the dimensionless combination of parameters oL?/2mk is greater than 0.3679, there are no axis crossings (situation (a), and if oL?/2mk is less than 0.3679, there are two axis crossings (situation (b)). ‘We next check whether or not there are any extrema. These occur at radii for which oL?/2mk = (ar/2X1+ are"™. The right-hand side of this equation, as a function of ar, is shown in Fig. 13. (ar/2X(1+ar)exp(-or) 0.4200 1.618 or Ex. 1.02, Fig. 13 ‘The peak in Fig. (13) is at or = (1+ -V5)/2 = 1.618 and the height of the peak is 0.4200. Thus, if aL?/2mk is greater than 0.4200, there are no extrema (situation (a), and if aL? /2mk is less than 0.4200, there are two extrema (situation (b)). ‘The possibilities for Va are shown in Fig. 14.Exercise 1.03 MN Veer Vert | Vert 4 bos K+ ‘al? t ol? t ol? + 3oE <037 037 <2 <0.42 042 < ok Ex. 1.02, Fig. 14(a) Ex. 1.02, Fig. 14(b) Ex. 1.02, Fig. 14(c) Situations (1) and (2) in Fig. 14 give bound orbits as in Ex. 1.02, Fig. 2, and situations (3) and (4) give scattering orbits as in Ex. 1.02, Fig. 6. Exercise 1.03 The first U.S. satellite to go into orbit, Explorer I, which was launched on January 31, 1958, had a perigee of 360 km and an apogee of 2549 km above the earth's surface. Find: (a) the semi-major axis, (b) the eccentricity, (c) the period, of Explorer I's orbit. The earth's equatorial radius is 6378 km and the acceleration duc to gravity at the earth's surface is g = 9.81m/s?. Solution The minimum and maximum radii of Explorer I's orbit are a(1-¢) = 360 +6378 =6738km and a(1+e)=2549+6378 = 8927km. The semi-major axis is thus a = 4(6738 + 8927)=7833km and the eccentricity is ~ SETS - 0.14. The period of the orbits given by re tak, GM handbook its simple o observe thatthe gravitational eld ate surface of te eh g=GM/R? =9.81m/s?, and thus t ts (7.833 x 105) = 6895s = 1.92hr. You! x (6.378 x 10°)?12 Chapter I: Newton's Laws Exercise 1.04 Mars travels on an approximately elliptical orbit around the Sun. Its minimum distance from the Sun is about 1.38 AU and its maximum distance is about 1.67 AU (1 AU = mean distance from Earth to Sun). Find: (a) the semi-major axis, (b) the eccentricity, (©) the period, of Mars’ orbit. Solution ‘The semi-major axis of Mars' orbit is a = 4(1.38 + 1.67) =1.53AU, and the eccentricity is 2 L67- 1.67 +1. The period is given by — 2n ad Vom" * Rather than lookin; tpt the anal constant G and the mass M of the Sun, it is simpler to observe 2x lyear = 1Al year = TC uy, and thus for Mars +, in years =(a, in AU) = (1.53% = 1.88. Exercise 1.05 Ane most economical method of traveling from one planet to another, the Hohmann transfer, consists of moving along a (Sun-controlled) elliptical path which is tangent to the the (a ximately) circular orbits of the two planets. Consider a Hohmann transfer from Earth (orbit radius ne 00 AU) to Venus (orbit radius 0.72 AU). Find, in units of AU and 2 the semi- ‘major axis of the transfer orbit, (b) the time required to go from Earth to Venus, (6) the velocity "iick” needed to place a spacecraft in Earth orbit into the transfer orbit.Exercise 1.05 13 In this problem ignore the effects of the gravitational fields of Earth and Venus on the spacecraft. Solution tnd the minimum radio equals the ada of Vena erbt (072 AU). The soatajoy axis of the transfer orbit is thus a= 4(1.00 + 0.72) = 0.86 AU. (b) The period + of the transfer orbit is (see Exercise 1.04) oat = (0,86)% = 0.80 year. The time to go from Earth to Venus is half the period, $(0.80) = 0.40 year. (©) The energy of the spacecraft, per unit mass, at Earth orbit radius rg is given by 1,2_GM__GM 2 Tp 2a where v is the speed of the spacecraft. On tie TE ie ave csiee see ine hal Coe ey ol the spacecraft, per unit mass, in terms of the semi-major axis a of the transfer orbit. This equation gives v-om(2-2). Newton's second law shows that the speed vp of the Earth around the Sun is given by eS, TE 2 (2) -2-%.2-L, Ve a 80 v/Vg = 0.915. Hence the velocity "kick" Av = v- vg needed to place the spacecraft into the transfer orbit is given by Av/vp =-0.085. Since the speed of the Earth is Vg = 2x AU/year, this yields Av = -0.534 AU/year (= -2.53km/s).