Demystifying the Lagrangian formalism for field theories

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Wagner, Gerd, Guthrie, Matthew W.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2020
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_version_ 1866911585302216704
author Wagner, Gerd
Guthrie, Matthew W.
author_facet Wagner, Gerd
Guthrie, Matthew W.
contents This paper expands on previous work to derive and motivate the Lagrangian formulation of field theories. In the process, we take three deliberate steps. First, we give the definition of the action and derive Euler-Lagrange equations for field theories. Second, we prove the Euler-Lagrange equations are independent under arbitrary coordinate transformations and motivate that this independence is desirable for field theories in physics. We then use the Lagrangian for Electrodynamics as an example field Lagrangian and prove that the related Euler-Lagrange equations lead to Maxwell's equations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2005_11393
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Demystifying the Lagrangian formalism for field theories
Wagner, Gerd
Guthrie, Matthew W.
Mathematical Physics
Classical Physics
This paper expands on previous work to derive and motivate the Lagrangian formulation of field theories. In the process, we take three deliberate steps. First, we give the definition of the action and derive Euler-Lagrange equations for field theories. Second, we prove the Euler-Lagrange equations are independent under arbitrary coordinate transformations and motivate that this independence is desirable for field theories in physics. We then use the Lagrangian for Electrodynamics as an example field Lagrangian and prove that the related Euler-Lagrange equations lead to Maxwell's equations.
title Demystifying the Lagrangian formalism for field theories
topic Mathematical Physics
Classical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.11393