6k views

### Physical meaning of the Lagrangian function [duplicate]

In Lagrangian mechanics, the function $L=T-V$, called Lagrangian, is introduced, where $T$ is the kinetic energy and $V$ the potential one. I was wondering: is there any reason for this quantity to be ...
110 views

### What is the physical significance of a Lagrangian and an action in particle physics? [duplicate]

I’m currently studying for a particle physics module about the standard model and there is a lot of material on Lagrangians (curly L) and actions (S). I’m not quite sure what both of these quantities ...
87 views

### Information contained in Lagrangians and actions [duplicate]

I've been looking into analytical mechanics with the intention of finding out more about Lagrangians and actions. As far as I currently understand it, the Lagrangian is formed with positions and ...
8k views

### Lagrangians not of the form $T-U$

My Physics teacher was reluctant to define Lagrangian as Kinetic Energy minus Potential Energy because he said that there were cases where a system's Lagrangian did not take this form. Are you are ...
16k views

### The meaning of action

The action $$S=\int L \;\mathrm{d}t$$ is an important physical quantity. But can it be understood more intuitively? The Hamiltonian corresponds to the energy, whereas the action has dimension of ...
11k views

### Why on-shell vs. off-shell matters?

The definitions between on- and off-shell are given in Wikipedia. Why is it so important in QFT to distinguish these two notions?
4k views

### Hamilton-Jacobi Equation

In the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, we take the partial time derivative of the action. But the action comes from integrating the Lagrangian over time, so time seems to just be a dummy variable here and ...
3k views

### Meaning of kinetic part in the Lagrangian density?

What is the physical meaning of the kinetic term in the classical scalar field Lagrangian $$\mathcal{L}_{kin}~=~\frac{1}{2}(\partial_\mu\phi)(\partial^\mu\phi)~?$$ It gives how does the field change ...
5k views

### Hamilton's characteristic and principal functions and separability

Just hoping for some clarity regarding Hamilton's characteristic function $W$. When we take a time independent Hamiltonian we can separate the Principal function $S$ up into the characteristic ...
699 views

### Why the Lagrangian $L$ is KE - PE? Why not KE + PE!

With Lagrangian, is there any way to intuitively grasp why total energy equals the difference between the kinetic and potential energy? Seems counter-intuitive - whereas Hamiltonian calculation (sum ...
474 views

### What exactly is the Action? (Learning lagrangian)

I have been trying to wrap my head around lagrangian mechanics but I find some parts confusing. For example, what exactly is action and why is it defined by the Kinetic energy minus the potential ...
393 views

### Heuristic Motivation for Lagrangian Formalism

Does anyone know a good heuristic motivation for the Lagrangian Formalism? I think most physicist just accept at one point that it works and thats that. I think I understand the historic origin. ...
469 views

### Derivation of Noether's theorem - A problem with physical significance

My question is about the field theoretic version of Noether's theorem. I am deeply troubled by one of the hypotheses of the theorem. As it is the standard textbook for Lagrange mechanics, I'll follow ...
In my course on Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics I noticed that we dealt with finding the stationary point of the change in action $\delta S$ and we were never really doing anything with $S$ ...