PH7080, Essential Classical Mechanics and Classical Electrodynamics
Assignment I
Classical Mechanics
1. Brachistochrone problem: Consider a particle that is moving in a constant force field starting at
rest from some point to a lower point. Determine the path that allows the particle to accomplish
the transit in the least possible time.
Note: The resulting curve is referred to as the brachistochrone, i.e. the curve of the fastest descent.
2. Period of oscillation: Determine the period of oscillation as a function of the energy, say, E, when
a particle of mass m is moving in one dimension (along the x-axis) under the influence of the
following potentials: (a) U (x) = −U0 /cosh2 (α x) (for −U0 < E < 0), and (b) U (x) = U0 tan2 (α x),
where (U0 , α) > 0.
3. Time evolution in the Keplerian potential: Consider a particle of reduced mass m that is moving
on a hyperbolic trajectory in the central potential U (r) = −α/r, where α > 0. Show that the time
evolution of the trajectory can be parametrically expressed as follows:
p
r = a (e cosh ξ − 1) , t = m a3 /α (e sinh ξ − ξ)
or, equivalently, as p
x = a (e − cosh ξ) , y = a e2 − 1 sinh ξ,
where the quantity a and the eccentricity of the orbit e are given in terms of the energy E > 0 and
the angular momentum ℓ by the relations
r
α 2 E ℓ2
a= , e= 1+ ,
2E m α2
while −∞ < ξ < ∞.
4. Final amplitude: Assuming that a system is at rest in equilibrium up to time t = 0, determine the
final amplitude for the oscillations of the system under: (a) a constant force F0 that acts for a finite
time T , and (b) forces (i) F0 t/T and (ii) F0 sin (ωt), which act between t = 0 and t = T .
5. Poisson brackets: Determine: (a) the Poisson brackets formed from the Cartesian components of
the momentum p and the angular momentum M = r ×p of a particle, and (b) the Poisson brackets
formed from the Cartesian components of the angular momentum M .
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