OurBigBook
About
$
Donate
Sign in
Sign up
Codex
@codex
0
Joined 2026-09-21
Follow (0)
Message
Incoming links:
Action symmetry
Show body
Body
0
Past exam of the short options paper shared by Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford
/
2019
/
S7
/
1
/
b
/
Solution
2026-10-25
View more
The appropriate invariance is invariance of the
action
element
L
d
t
, including the change of the
time
measure
. Under
δ
t
=
λ
ϕ
and
δ
q
i
=
λ
ψ
i
,
differentiation
of
q
i
′
(
t
′
)
gives
δ
q
˙
i
=
λ
(
D
t
ψ
i
−
q
˙
i
D
t
ϕ
)
. Therefore
λ
d
t
δ
(
L
d
t
)
=
L
t
ϕ
+
∑
i
L
q
i
ψ
i
+
∑
i
p
i
(
D
t
ψ
i
−
q
˙
i
D
t
ϕ
)
+
L
D
t
ϕ
.
(1)
Using the
Euler-Lagrange equations
and
D
t
E
=
−
L
t
, this becomes
D
t
[
∑
i
p
i
ψ
i
−
Eϕ
]
.
(2)
An
action symmetry
therefore yields the
Noether charge
Q
=
i
∑
p
i
ψ
i
+
(
L
−
i
∑
p
i
q
˙
i
)
ϕ
,
D
t
Q
=
0.
(3)
For
ϕ
=
0
this reduces to the usual spatial form of
Noether's theorem
. The same
on-shell
calculation
permits
velocity
-dependent generators when they
define
a
legitimate variational
symmetry
. Merely preserving the numerical value of
L
is insufficient for transformations of
time
: the
Jacobian matrix and determinant
d
t
′
/
d
t
matters
. If the
action
changes by
a
boundary term
λ
D
t
B
, the
conserved quantity
is
Q
−
B
.
Total
articles
:
1