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equations:hamilton-jacobi_equation

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Hamilton-Jacobi Equation

Intuitive

Explanations in this section should contain no formulas, but instead colloquial things like you would hear them during a coffee break or at a cocktail party.

Concrete

For a very nice explanation of the origin of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation and its meaning see chapter 2 in Sleeping Beauties in Theoretical Physics by Thanu Padmanabhan

The Hamilton-Jacobi equation is essentially a dispersion relation for a complex wave. This is easy to see in the context of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. If a quantum amplitude is expressed in the form ψ = Rexp(iS/h¯), then the Hamilton-Jacobi equation relates p = ∂S/∂q to E = −∂S/∂t by the condition p2(q) = 2m(E −V). This is a relation between the wave vector k = p/h¯ and the frequency ω = E/h¯ of the “matter wave” associated with the particle.chapter 2 in Sleeping Beauties in Theoretical Physics by Thanu Padmanabhan

Abstract

The motto in this section is: the higher the level of abstraction, the better.

Why is it interesting?

equations/hamilton-jacobi_equation.1522074883.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/03/26 14:34 (external edit)