DIVHistorical, theoretical survey with many insights, much hard-to-find material. Hamilton’s principle, Hamilton-Jacobi equation, etc. /div

Variational principles have proven to be surprisingly fertile. For example, Fermat used variational methods to demonstrate that light follows the fastest route from one point to another, an idea which came to be a cornerstone of geometrical optics. This book explains variational principles and charts their use throughout modern physics. It examines the analytical mechanics of Lagrange and Hamilton, the basic tools of any physicist. The book also offers simple but rich first impressions of Einstein’s General Relativity, Feynman’s Quantum Mechanics, and more that reveal amazing interconnections between various fields of physics.

This book is an English translation from a Hungarian book designed for graduate and postgraduate students about the use of variational principles in theoretical physics. Unlike many academic textbooks, it dashes across several lecture disciplines taught in physics courses. It emphasizes and demonstrates the use of the variational technique and philosophy behind the basic laws in mechanics, relativity theory, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics. The book is meant for advanced students and young researchers in theoretical physics but, also, more experienced researchers can benefit from its reading.

This graduate-level text's primary objective is to demonstrate the expression of the equations of the various branches of mathematical physics in the succinct and elegant form of variational principles (and thereby illuminate their interrelationship). Its related intentions are to show how variational principles may be employed to determine the discrete eigenvalues for stationary state problems and to illustrate how to find the values of quantities (such as the phase shifts) that arise in the theory of scattering. Chapter-by-chapter treatment consists of analytical dynamics; optics, wave mechanics, and quantum mechanics; field equations; eigenvalue problems; and scattering theory. 1966 edition. Bibliography. Index.