Scribd
Upload
83 views1 page

Totd No Ether

Noether's Symmetry Theorem states that if a system's Lagrangian is invariant under changes to a variable, then there is an associated conserved quantity. Specifically, if the Lagrangian is unchanged by variations in time, then total energy is conserved. Emmy Noether generalized this, showing that any differentiable symmetry of a physical system's Lagrangian corresponds to a conserved quantity. Her theorem transformed theoretical physics by relating conservation laws to underlying symmetries.

Uploaded by

Yesenia Griffith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
83 views1 page

Totd No Ether

Noether's Symmetry Theorem states that if a system's Lagrangian is invariant under changes to a variable, then there is an associated conserved quantity. Specifically, if the Lagrangian is unchanged by variations in time, then total energy is conserved. Emmy Noether generalized this, showing that any differentiable symmetry of a physical system's Lagrangian corresponds to a conserved quantity. Her theorem transformed theoretical physics by relating conservation laws to underlying symmetries.

Uploaded by

Yesenia Griffith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

THEOREM OF THE DAY

Noethers Symmetry Theorem Suppose a system of particles in classical mechanics exhibits some symmetry, i.e. its Lagrangian, L , is invariant under changes to some variable s, so that L/s = 0. Then
there is some associated property C of the system which is conserved: dC/dt = 0.

The behaviour of a system of particles in classical mechanics may be described using the Lagrangian, L, the difference between its kinetic and
potential energies as calculated from position and velocity parameters, q and q.
(In the above one-dimensional system of massless springs, the
parameters are xi and xi , i = 1, . . . , 3, with ki j being the spring coefficients and mi , the masses.) Newtons laws of motion are then embodied in
the Euler-Lagrange equation: L/q = d/dt(L/q).
Under the belief that mechanical laws are invariant over time t, we assert that L/t = 0,
so that changes in L over time depend purely on changes to its parameters:
dL X  L dqi L dq i  X  d L L dq i 
=
+
+
=
q i
(substituting in the first term via the Euler-Lagrange equation).
dt
q
dt

dt
dt

dt
i
i
i
i
i
i
X L 
d
= 0, with the expression in the bracket being a conserved
Rearranging and expressing as a single time derivative, we have
L
q i
dt
q i
i
property of the system. Evaluating this bracketed expression for the spring system shown above we get L 2T , and since L = T V, we find
that the property being conserved is (minus) T + V, the total energy: time invariance conservation of energy.

Emmy Noethers theorem, a profound reinterpretation of the Euler-Lagrange equation, extends to quantum mechanical systems
and now underlies the Standard Model of modern particle physics. Just as in the above example, new invariance properties are
investigated via the theorem to identify the conservation laws which they entail.
Web link: www.mathpages.com/home/kmath564/kmath564.htm (I adapted the spring example from this admirable explanation).
Further reading: Emmy Noethers Wonderful Theorem by Dwight Neuenschwander, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
Created by Robin Whitty for www.theoremoftheday.org

You might also like