Substitute the instantaneous Sine-Gordon kink profile and prescribed velocity with into the field density. For , , the integrals and give the displayed collective-coordinate effective Lagrangian. Its equation is . This is relativistic particle motion with mass and topological coupling charge . When varies, the prescribed velocity omits a width-change contribution; acceleration correction for an instantaneous boosted kink describes the exact chain-rule distinction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 55 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Differentiating the density with respect to the field and its first derivatives givesThe Euler-Lagrange field equation is consequentlyThe external term is the electric field in the convention of the question. The derivative coupling is the electromagnetic coupling of a sine-Gordon topological current: , , so identically.
When and , both and are constant. Put and . Direct differentiation, or a Lorentz boost, givesThe static Sine-Gordon kink equation then proves that every stated constant-velocity boosted profile is an exact solution. The range makes the boost real and subluminal.
To evaluate the proposed collective-coordinate effective Lagrangian, use the instantaneous-boost prescription and the stated velocity field , with the external electromagnetic gauge potential , . The kink hassoThe last identity uses the evenness of . With , the kinetic and gradient terms combine toand the potential term is . The external coupling isThus the instantaneous-boost effective action for a sine-Gordon kink isIts canonical momentum is . The resulting Euler-Lagrange equation isEquivalently and . This describes a relativistic particle of rest mass and coupling charge , driven by . At small speed it reduces to ; the relativistic expression keeps .
There is also an exact force check at field level. For , the field equation and integration by parts give when boundary stresses cancel. If and the field has kink boundary difference , this is . The approximation identifies that total momentum with for the kink profile and neglects radiation or deformation.
The approximation's scope is important. An accelerating profile with has actual derivativewhereas the velocity prescribed in the question omits the first term. Its contribution linear in integrates to zero by parity, but its square adds to the integrated density. Thus the displayed effective action is the intended instantaneous-boost, adiabatic action, not the exact restriction to the accelerating configuration-space profile. It is exact on the constant-velocity family when ; small forcing motivates neglecting the acceleration correction for an instantaneous boosted kink.