- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface to Second Edition
- Preface to First Edition
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic Dynamics of Point Particles and Collections
- 2 Introduction to Lagrangian Mechanics
- 3 Lagrangian Theory of Constraints
- 4 Introduction to Hamiltonian Mechanics
- 5 The Calculus of Variations
- 6 Hamilton's Principle
- 7 Linear Operators and Dyadics
- 8 Kinematics of Rotation
- 9 Rotational Dynamics
- 10 Small Vibrations about Equilibrium
- 11 Central Force Motion
- 12 Scattering
- 13 Lagrangian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 14 Hamiltonian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 15 Hamilton'S Principle and Noether's Theorem
- 16 Relativity and Spacetime
- 17 Fourvectors and Operators
- 18 Relativistic Mechanics
- 19 Canonical Transformations
- 20 Generating Functions
- 21 Hamilton-Jacobi Therory
- 22 Angle‐Action Variables
- Appendix A Vector Fundamentals
- Appendix B Matrices and Determinants
- Appendix C Eigenvalue Problem with General Metric
- Appendix D The Calculus of Many Variables
- Appendix E Geometry of Phase Space
- References
- Index
Relativistic Mechanics
Relativistic Mechanics
- Chapter:
- (p.395) 18 Relativistic Mechanics
- Source:
- Analytical Mechanics for Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
- Author(s):
Oliver Davis Johns
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter discusses the modified version of Newton's laws of motion. The relativistically modified mechanics is presented and then recast into a fourvector form that demonstrates its consistency with special relativity. Traditional Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics can incorporate these modifications, but the transition to a manifestly covariant Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics requires use of the extended Lagrangian and Hamiltonian methods. The traditional Lagrange and Hamilton equations derived here are covariant in the sense that they reproduce the relativistically modified equations of motion. However, it is advantageous to write Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics in a manifestly covariant form in which only invariants and fourvectors appear in the equations. The consistency with special relativity is then apparent by inspection.
Keywords: motion, Newton's laws, relativistically modified mechanics, fourvector form, special relativity
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface to Second Edition
- Preface to First Edition
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic Dynamics of Point Particles and Collections
- 2 Introduction to Lagrangian Mechanics
- 3 Lagrangian Theory of Constraints
- 4 Introduction to Hamiltonian Mechanics
- 5 The Calculus of Variations
- 6 Hamilton's Principle
- 7 Linear Operators and Dyadics
- 8 Kinematics of Rotation
- 9 Rotational Dynamics
- 10 Small Vibrations about Equilibrium
- 11 Central Force Motion
- 12 Scattering
- 13 Lagrangian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 14 Hamiltonian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 15 Hamilton'S Principle and Noether's Theorem
- 16 Relativity and Spacetime
- 17 Fourvectors and Operators
- 18 Relativistic Mechanics
- 19 Canonical Transformations
- 20 Generating Functions
- 21 Hamilton-Jacobi Therory
- 22 Angle‐Action Variables
- Appendix A Vector Fundamentals
- Appendix B Matrices and Determinants
- Appendix C Eigenvalue Problem with General Metric
- Appendix D The Calculus of Many Variables
- Appendix E Geometry of Phase Space
- References
- Index
