Part I: Classical DynamicsSolutions

Problem 1 (33 pts)

A particle moves on the x axis with Hamiltonian H (x, px ) = x2 x4 p2 x + . 2 2 4

(a) (5 pts) The equations of motion (Hamiltons equations) are: x = H = px , px px = H = x + x3 . x

(b) (5 pts) The equilibrium points of the system are found by setting the righthand sides of Hamiltons equations in (a) equal to zero. We have a stable equilibrium at x = 0, px = 0, H = 0, and unstable equilibria at x = 1 . Stability/instability is determined by expanding H in 1, px = 0, H = 4 Taylor series about the respective equilibrium points. To degree 2, the local H is a harmonic oscillator for a stable equilibrium, an inverted oscillator for an unstable equilibrium. (c) (8 pts)
2

-1

-2

-2

-1

(d) (5 pts) A particle is launched at x = 0 with initial velocity 1/ 2. The initial point is on the separatrix curve H = 1/4, directly above the origin. The initial momentum is positive and so the point moves to the right along 1

the separatrix, arriving at the unstable equilibrium point at x = 1, p = 0 after time

1

dx
0

1 = x

1 0

dx = 2(1 x2 )

1 0

dx = 2(1 + x)(1 x)

(e) (5 pts) We make the following transformation of phase space coordinates: (x, px ) (, J ), x = 2J sin , px = 2J cos . To prove that this is a canonical transformation, we show that the Poisson bracket of x with px is equal to 1 if [, J ] = 1. [x, px ] = x px x px = sin2 + cos2 = 1. J J

(f) (5 pts) (, J ) = J J 2 sin4 H To get the new Hamiltonian, we need only to average over : J (, ) = J H 1 2 J 2
2 0

3J 2 + O( 2 ) sin4 = J 8
2

is a function only of J , with corrections of order The new Hamiltonian H The oscillation frequency, correct to rst order in is given by = H 3 =1 J + O( 2 ). J 4

Problem 2 (34 pts)

A dynamical system with two angular degrees of freedom has the Hamiltonian 5 H (1 , 2 , L1 , L2 ) = L1 + L2 + (3L1 + 2L2 )2 sin(21 32 ). 3 2

(a) (5 pts) Find a linear combination F of L1 and L2 which commutes, in the sense of Poisson brackets, with H . Show that F is a constant of the motion. It is sucient to nd a, b such that [aL1 + bL2 , 21 32 ] = 0. From the elementary Poisson brackets, 2a + 3b = 0. Hence we can take 2 F = c(L1 + L2 ), 3
F t

where c is an arbitrary numerical constant. Since [F, H ] = 0.

= = 0, we have F

(b) (5 pts) Show that F/c and H are functionally independent (i.e their phase-space gradient vectors are linearly independent) everywhere in the phase space. For dependence, all 2x2 minors of the rectangular matrix of partial derivatives,
H L1

H L2 2 3

H 1

H 2

must vanish. In particular, one of the minors is H 2 5 2 H = = 1, 3 L1 L2 3 3 and so the gradient vectors are linearly independent everywhere. (c) (5 pts) Statements (a) and (b) imply that the topological structure of a compact, connected phase-space manifold Mh,f on which H and F take the respective values h and f must be that of a 2-torus. (d) (6 points) We make a canonical transformation (1 , 2 , L1 , L2 ) (1 , 2 , I1 , I2 ) such that 1 = 1 , 2 2 = 2 1 , 3 3

This is accomplished by means of a generating function 2 S (1 , 2 , I1 , I2 ) = I1 1 + I2 (2 1 ), 3 which gives L1 = 2 S = I1 I2 , 1 3 S L2 = = I2 , 2

2 2 F = c(I1 I2 + I2 ) = cI1 , 3 3 as desired. Plugging the expressions for L1 , L2 , 1 , 2 into H gives (1 , 2 , I1 , I2 ) = I1 + I2 9I 2 sin 32 . H 1 (d) (5 points) To verify that the system is separable with respect to the = h and I1 = F/c = f , we coordinates 1 , 2 , I1 , I2 , we note that for xed H have that I1 is a constant for 0 1 < 2 , while I2 is a function of 2 for 0 2 < 2 , namely I2 = h f + 9f 2 sin 32 . The manifold is thus dieomorphic to a product of circles, hence to a 2-torus, as required by the Liouville-Arnold theorem. (e) (8 points) We use the separability to introduce action-angle coordinates on the manifold Mh,f . We have J1 = 1 2 I1 d1 = f, J2 = 1 2 I2 d2 = h f.

so that

The generating function for the CT to action-angle coordinates is S (, J ) = and so we get 1 = S = 1 6f cos 32 , J1 S 2 = = 2 . J2 I1 (1 , J )d1 +
2 I2 (2 , J )d2 = J1 1 + J2 2 3J1 cos 32 .

Part II: Continuum Mechanics -- Solutions

Problem 3 (33 pts)