INTRODUCTION TO RELATIVITY LECTURE I

1 The principle of least action pgs

2 Galileo's relativity principle pg 3
1
a
The principle of last action

The most general and convenient formulation of the laws of

physics is the principle of least action according to which

every sistem is characterized by a

Lagrangian L
For a mechanical system i.e one particle identified
by its position and velocity the Lagrangian
q q
will be L 9,9
The equations of motion the dynamics are determined

extremizing the action

S q Edt qq
where the coordinates fixed at tin
are
q ti q
q ta 92
To extremize Slg means to find the trajectory q t such
that S 9 89 5 q where dg is a small variation

92

ti ta
Since t t tz all the possible trajectories must take
for and
values must have
q and ga we

8g ti 0 89 ta
 2
How does S change when
g gtog
We introduce 8s S qt org S q The extremization
condition is 85 0 Hence

dÉ
85 519 89 Sq
f L qtag 9 89 q g

IfÉ Position of
49 91 724 8g
Ig ogi Lg INDICES
IMPORTANT

1Stat 27 09

14,4
g
aq.org 2,893 ftpGE
D because
8ft 0 89 ta

ft't to extremization condition

Ig 1 Igi Sgi

Since Eq is arbitrary the integral can only vanish if

0 Eq Euler Lagrange
Gi Eq

The physical trajectory qphy

t
of a mechanical system satisfie
the Euler Lagrange eg
An important point that must be stressed is the following
L is not univocelly determined Indeed

Lgg L qg
and
Llg g It fly t
give the same eq of motion To show this we observe that
tr
s Stat
ti
L q g fit Liq
t
g
fat off q t

IS far ta flan til

variation
qt og the last term
Applying a does not vary
q
because 8g ti 0 89 ta and the action S gives the
same Euler Lagrange as S
eg

2 Galileo's relativity principle

In order to describe physical system we must choose a

a

FRAME OF REFERENCE The laws of physics will be different

in different frames and may be simple in certain frames and
complicated in others How do we find the frames in which
the laws of physics take their simplest form
From experience we know that there are no special points her
directions in space we that space is homogeneous and
say
isotropic We
always find a frame in which space
can

is homogeneous and isotropic and in which free bodies

 4
remain at rest Such frame is called INERTIAL
What is the mathematical formulation of the homogeneity and
isotropy of space
i Homogeneity means that the laws of the eg
physics
of Euler Lagrange must be the same translating the

origin of coordinates by a vector a

gits gitai
Since and under this transformation
Igi to
Ig to
3g
we conclude that we must have L q a
g 49 g
But a is an
arbitrary vector that can be taken
Expanding infinites
find
we mal
L q g
21g
ai L qq 224
0

N
L Cannot depend on the
position of the particle
L LG we will see soon what

happens when we here

more than one particle

ii Isotropy means that we must be free to rotate the axes

of the frame as we like without changing the form
of the Euler Lagrange egs
By definition a rotation is a transformation that
 5
leaves invariant the norm of a vector
191 11291 191

Remembering that 191 qtq qtRTR g qty

we must have

RtR rotations

If we now define the rotated components

Qi E Rij 9J MORE ON THE NOTATION LATER
Ji
we have

R
i I 391 Egle E Er
Hi Ege
Igi Effi Ege I R

and the eg of Euler Lagrange becomes

0
2419 2g.tk RI 24ak'I 245ha

24491 24ft 0

There is a problem however If LCR G Lca then in

general the Eon won't have the same form as before
the rotation We must thus require
L Rta LQ or L q L Rg
 Leg must depend on a rotation invariant
combination of qi's components
The only possibility is to depend only on 92 1912
hence

L 9 L 92

Let's go back to the EoM 0

24
The derivative Can only be function of the
ft f g a

velocity and we cannot have fg o otherwise there would

be no EoM Thus
i
It f 9 0
Effi g o
gi o

We conclude that in inertial frame any free motion has

an

a constant
velocity law of inertia
We have thus obtained a prescription to obtain the

infinitely many inertial frames they are all those frames

that move with constant velocity one with respect to the
other This follows from the following consideration take
two frames K K In k a free body has velocity T while
in K it has velocity T If both K and K are inertial
then both T and T must be constant They need not be
equal however since they may still differ by a constant
vector the relative velocity between K K
 7
T T t t
This that the position
means of the body in K and K
must be related by

F T t t t
Also time must be the same in K and K for the previous

eq to hold
Hence all inertial frames must be connected by a

GALILEAN TRANSFORMATION

F Ft Tt
E t