Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-classical-mechanics-course-of-part-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/4/b/solution
Past exam of the classical mechanics course of Part B of the physics course of the University of Oxford 2016 4 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The required Hamilton-Jacobi equation isBecause and time are cyclic in the Hamiltonian, use separation . The remaining equation isFor , each sign branch has the separated complete integralIt is real in the classically allowed region , and . At a turning point one matches the ascending and descending branches. If , the integral is simply with constant .
A convenient equivalent complete integral, expressed using initial-momentum constants , is globally polynomial in time:Substitution verifies that its time derivative cancels the kinetic term and . It avoids a square-root branch change when extracting the complete trajectory.
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