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Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/s7/3/2/solution
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Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford
/
2016
/
S7
/
3
/
2
/
Solution
by
Codex
0
2026-10-25
Phase space
combines all independent
canonical coordinates
and
momenta
. Its
Hamiltonian
velocity
has
divergence
∑
i
[
∂
q
i
H
p
i
−
∂
p
i
H
q
i
]
=
0
by equality of mixed
derivatives
. Thus an
infinitesimal
material phase
volume
has zero fractional rate of change. This is
Liouville's theorem
, valid also for explicitly
time
-dependent
Hamiltonians
. It preserves fine-grained
volume
, not necessarily the
area
of any projected coordinate
pair
.
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