Hamiltonian formalism and the state of a physical system (Q5948840)

In five chapters the authors offer a new point of departure -- the Schrödinger equation with implications different from those of Newton's second law. 1. \textit{Introduction} gives a short review of the historical development. 2. \textit{Newton's law and the state of a physical system} defines the basic notions such as e.g. particle, position vector, acceleration vector, etc. and describes the classical way of examining the motion of a mass point. The physicists found that it is more convenient to use the position and momentum of it and define the ``state'' of a particle. The statistical conditions lead to the probability density function at time 0. Two examples explain the proposed manner. 3. \textit{Energy and the Hamiltonian} narrows the considerations to the conservative motions. Hamilton's equations of motion are derived. Three examples help to understand the ideas. 4. \textit{Classical mechanics for n particles} shows the corresponding Hamilton's equations for such a case. An example of two coupled harmonic oscillators helps us to see the application of the proposed thoughts. 5. \textit{Why the Hamiltonian formalism}? defines, first, the notion of a Lagrangian and the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion. Then follows a sketch of a historical connection between the Hamiltonian formalism and the nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. As a consequence the Schrödinger equation is shown. A table summarizes the difference between the various approaches. With 4 figures and 12 references.