Overview
- Leaps directly into the variational approach, bypassing the Newtonian approach entirely, making this book stand out from its competitors
- Applies a unique approach to teaching mechanics to advanced undergraduates with Lagrangian and Hamiltonian method that is far superior to that of Newton
- Contains numerous exercises with concise solutions in the text and very detailed solutions in the manual
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics (ULNP)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This advanced undergraduate textbook begins with the Lagrangian formulation of Analytical Mechanics and then passes directly to the Hamiltonian formulation and the canonical equations, with constraints incorporated through Lagrange multipliers. Hamilton's Principle and the canonical equations remain the basis of the remainder of the text.
Topics considered for applications include small oscillations, motion in electric and magnetic fields, and rigid body dynamics. The Hamilton-Jacobi approach is developed with special attention to the canonical transformation in order to provide a smooth and logical transition into the study of complex and chaotic systems. Finally the text has a careful treatment of relativistic mechanics and the requirement of Lorentz invariance.
The text is enriched with an outline of the history of mechanics, which particularly outlines the importance of the work of Euler, Lagrange, Hamilton and Jacobi.
Numerous exercises with solutions supportthe exceptionally clear and concise treatment of Analytical Mechanics.
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Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Prof. Dr. Carl S. Helrich is professor emeritus from Goshen College (USA) with research interests in Condensed Matter Physics, Mathematical Physics and Computational Physics. He received his PhD in Theoretical Plasma Physics from Northwestern University (USA). More than 25 years of teaching experience at Tennessee Space Institute (USA), Research Laboratory Jülich (Germany), Bethel College in Kansas and Goshen College allow for a unique perspective to present analytical mechanics.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Analytical Mechanics
Authors: Carl S. Helrich
Series Title: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44491-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-44490-1Published: 12 October 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-44491-8Published: 01 October 2016
Series ISSN: 2192-4791
Series E-ISSN: 2192-4805
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 349
Number of Illustrations: 58 b/w illustrations
Topics: Classical Mechanics, Mathematical Methods in Physics, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics