Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ib/paper-3/4c/solution

For a general Lagrangian,
Along an Euler-Lagrange trajectory,
so energy is conserved when has no explicit time dependence.
For the given Lagrangian, write . At points where ,
The Euler-Lagrange equation is therefore
In expanded form its left-hand side is
The momentum has fixed magnitude,
so this is constant without needing to solve the equation of motion. The Hamiltonian is
The singular Legendre transform of a degree-one velocity Lagrangian applies here: determines only the direction of , not its magnitude, and the velocity Hessian is not invertible. Thus the usual inverse Legendre transform cannot reconstruct the Lagrangian from this Hamiltonian.

New to topics? Read the docs here!