283 views

### How the lagrangian density is found?

In Classical Mechanics one usually considers the Lagrangian as $L = K - U$ where $K$ is the kinetic energy of the system and $U$ is the potential energy. One then gets the Euler-Lagrange equations and ...
146 views

### Is there an action for every physical law?

Given an action, I can get the differential equation governing the evolution of the system by applying the principle of least action. Does it work the other way around? Given any differential ...
930 views

### Can we derive most fundamental laws from the Action Principle? [duplicate]

It is said in the book Fearful Symmetry - The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics that we can derive all basic laws in physics from a simple principle called Least Action Principle (although it may be ...
453 views

### When can a classical field theory be quantized?

Given a classical field theory can it be always quantized? Put in another way, Does there necessarily need to exist a particle excitation given a generic classical field theory? By generic I mean all ...
288 views

### Why do Lagrangians and Hamiltonians give the equations of motion? [duplicate]

I remember asking my second year Mechanics teacher about why do the Lagrangians give the equations of motion. His answer was that there is no answer to that, it is an empirical fact, and that asking ...
216 views

### When can I apply Lagrangian mechanics?

I am trying to understand Lagrangian mechanics. I am having trouble capturing all of the nuances in one gulp. I can see the equations, but not necessarily the semantics behind such equations. I ...
44 views

### Why do we derive more fundamental quantum theories from less fundamental classical theories? [duplicate]

In almost every derivation of a quantum theory (quantum mechanics or quantum field theory), we start with a classical theory using classical equations and quantize it (by imposing certain constraints ...
96 views

### What are the other possibilities for a Lorentz invariant interaction?

In Weinberg's QFT book, Chapter 3, he shows that if the interaction term $V(t)$ is of the form $$V(t)=\int \mathcal{H}(t,\mathbf{x})d^3\mathbf{x},$$ where the operators $\mathcal{H}(x)$ are scalars ...
106 views

### Which class of Dynamical Systems is governed by Lagrangian Dynamics? [duplicate]

Lagrangian formalism is a technique using which we can obtain the time evolution of a dynamical system. Given a dynamical system, can we say whether or not we can write down a Lagrangian (solving it ...
54 views

### Is there a method to obtain a Lagrangian from the equations of motion? [duplicate]

From the standpoint of the mathematical framework behind Lagrangians and their corresponding action, is there a method to invert the process? If not, is this an open question or is there some aspect ...
454 views

### Why does Principle for least action hold for classical fields [duplicate]

Let $\mathscr L (\phi(\mathbf x), \partial \phi(\mathbf x))$ denote the Lagrangian density of field $\phi(\mathbf x)$. Then then actual value of the field $\phi(\mathbf x)$ can be computed from the ...
28 views

### How general is the Lagrangian formulation? [duplicate]

Haven't seriously tackled this problem myself because it's been awhile since I've done any hard mathematics and I'm a bit rusty. However, you needn't spare the math in your answers. I've been ...
42 views

### Must there exist a Lagrangian for any 2nd order ordinary derivative equation? [duplicate]

We know if there exist a Lagrangian of some ODE, then it must exist many equivalent Lagrangian. My question: Then must there exist a Lagrangian for any 2nd order ODE? If not, do we have some ...