PHY 303/573 – Analytical Mechanics

Fall 2023

General Course Information

Last updated: 2023-08-14 18:50

Prerequisites: PHY 251 and PHY 277 or permission of department; MAT 303 or MAT 305 or
AMS 361 or MAT 308. 3 credits.

Overview
Analytical Mechanics is the generic name given to a number of theoretical approaches to Classical
Mechanics in which vectorial quantities of motion take a less prominent place than in Newton’s
original approach. While Newton’s formulation of Classical Mechanics proved tremendously suc-
cessful and became in many ways the defining paradigm of our scientific age, its direct generalization
potential turned out, from a historical perspective, to be rather limited. In contrast, the methods
of Analytical Mechanics — the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian formalisms, the Hamilton-Jacobi
theory, the principle of least action, the idea of phase space, and the beautiful and deep relation
between symmetries and conservation laws expressed by Noether’s theorem — led to powerful and
far-ranging generalizations. In some form or another their essential principles sit now at the heart
of modern theoretical physics and play a central role in such varied fields as relativistic mechanics,
general relativity, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, classical and quantum field theory.
Our aim in this course will be to retrace this conceptual shift and walk the bridge between the
Newtonian mind frame and the modern “analytical” one.
A more concrete goal of the course is for you to learn to solve classical mechanical problems using
the methods and concepts of Analytical Mechanics. The mathematical level of the course should
be considered as advanced, in accordance with the listed prerequisites. In particular, you will
be expected to have a solid working command of algebra and multivariate calculus.
For a successful outcome, you should anticipate to spend a substantial amount of time every week
preparing for the course and working on the homework assignments.

Instructor: Radu Ionaş

• Email: [email protected]. Reserved for personal issues; I prefer to answer ques-
tions about the material covered in class and the homework as much as possible during office
hours, and not via email. When inquiring about homework-related issues please c.c. our
graduate TA into your correspondence.
• Office hours: MW from 5:25 – 6:25 pm, immediately following the lectures, outside the lecture
room.

Graduate TA: TBA

Lectures
MW from 4:00 – 5:20 pm in Harriman Hall 112. The lectures will be live-streamed online and
recorded (subject to possibility). Lecture notes/slides will be posted at regular intervals (and

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 usually ahead of being discussed in class) in the Course Documents module in Brightspace.

Required Materials
A means of submitting an easily readable copy of your homework assignment electronically (a
phone or tablet camera, typically — anything that does a decent enough job and is hopefully readily
available and as inexpensive to you as possible).

Textbook and Other Resources

The suggested textbook for the course is
• D. Morin — Introduction to Classical Mechanics with Problems and Solutions, 2009 (1st ed.)
This book contains a large collection of rather nice worked-out problems, preceded by succinct
discussions of the relevant theory. We will not follow it very closely; nonetheless, it is quite a useful
and greatly recommended read due to its emphasis on applications and problem-solving.
Many other books exist, covering a wide range of difficulty levels, pedagogical approaches and
mathematical tastes. Observations have shown though that, alongside frustration, a common side
effect of studying Analytical Mechanics consists in developing strong contrary opinions about these
books. To avoid this dreadful side effect I encourage you to browse, in preparation for the course,
through the further references listed below, and perhaps others as well, to see which ones suit your
needs best.
The canonical references in the field are considered to be
• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz — Mechanics, 1960 (the first volume in a magisterial ten-volume
Course of Theoretical Physics)

• H. Goldstein — Classical Mechanics, 1951 (with the latest, extended 3rd edition from 2005
including also C. P. Poole and J. L. Safko as co-authors).
These books discuss theory in a much greater depth than Morin’s book. Other widely-used refer-
ences include
• J. B. Marion, S. T. Thornton — Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, 2004 (5th ed.)

• L. N. Hand, J. D. Finch — Analytical Mechanics, 1998 (1st ed.)

• G. R. Fowles, G. L. Cassiday — Analytical Mechanics, 2005 (7th ed.)

• J. R. Taylor — Classical Mechanics, 2005.

Among the freely available resources which you might find useful to consult are
• Professor Konstantin Likharev’s book on Classical Mechanics (2013), part of his Essential
Graduate Physics series (Stony Brook).

• Professor Derek Teaney’s lecture notes for the corresponding graduate-level course (Stony
Brook).

• D. Tong — Lecture Notes on Classical Dynamics (University of Cambridge, UK).

• S. Golwala — Lecture Notes on Classical Mechanics (Caltech).

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 • D. Arovas — Lecture Notes on Classical Mechanics (U. of California at San Diego).

• J. C. Baez, D. K. Wise — Lectures on Classical Mechanics (U. of California at Riverside).

The standard “next-level” mathematically advanced reference for those interested in a deeper,
geometric understanding of the foundations of Classical Mechanics is
• V. I. Arnol’d — Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics, 1989 (2nd ed.)
Finally, Analytical Mechanics is a standard component of the so-called “comprehensive” exams
given at the beginning of graduate school and meant to test students’ comprehension of core physics
areas. Here you can find a collection of past such exams, with solutions, given over the years by
the Physics and Astronomy Department at Stony Brook.

Homework
Homework will be assigned weekly on (usually) Thursdays, and will be due on the second Sunday
after that at 11:00 pm. It will consist of several problems, some of which are going to be quite
challenging; you should expect to spend several days studying the relevant theory and working on
them. To submit the homework, upload a clearly legible digital copy in the Assignments section in
Brightspace. The penalty for missing the submission deadline is 10%/day. Discussing the homework
with your colleagues is not only allowed but strongly encouraged; however, your submissions must
be entirely your own work.

Exams
There will be one midterm and one final exam. These are scheduled as follows:
Midterm exam Oct. 16, 4:00 – 5:20 pm (during regular lecture hours)
Final exam Dec. 12, 8:30 – 11:00 pm
All students will be expected to take the exams on the dates scheduled, so please plan accordingly.
Only exceptionally serious and documented reasons for missing an exam will be considered.

Grades
Your course score will be calculated based on the following percentage weights:
Midterm exam 30%
Final exam 45%
Homework 25%

There will be no possibility of earning extra credit at any time during the semester. Letter grades
for the course will then be assigned on a curve, which I reserve the right to choose as I see fit in
accordance with the difficulty of the exams.

Course Outline
The following is a tentative list of some of the topics that I plan to discuss throughout the
semester:
– Various mathematical reviews
– Mechanics in non-inertial reference frames

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 – Lagrangian mechanics
– Linear oscillators
– The principle of least action and variational calculus
– Lagrange multipliers
– Symmetries and Noether’s theorem
– Central potentials and Kepler’s problem
– The Hamiltonian formalism

Standard University Policy

A. Student Accessibility Support Center Statement: If you have a physical, psychological,
medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact the Student
Accessibility Support Center, 128 ECC Building, (631) 632-6748, or at [email protected]. They
will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and
documentation is confidential.

B. Academic Integrity Statement: Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly
and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person’s work as your
own is always wrong. Faculty is required to report any suspected instances of academic dishonesty
to the Academic Judiciary. Faculty in the Health Sciences Center (School of Health Technology
& Management, Nursing, Social Welfare, Dental Medicine) and School of Medicine are required to
follow their school-specific procedures. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity,
including categories of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Judiciary website.

C. Critical Incident Management: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the
rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of
Student Conduct and Community Standards any disruptive behavior that interrupts their abil-
ity to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students’ ability to
learn.

D. Religious Holidays: This course will operate in compliance with the University’s policy
regarding religious holidays, set forth here. In particular, you should notify the instructor in
advance, but definitely before the final date of the ‘add/drop’ period, of your intention to be out
for religious observance.
Further information about most academic matters can be found in the Undergraduate Bulletin, the
Undergraduate Class Schedule, and the Faculty-Employee Handbook.