Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 4 8B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let a one-parameter infinitesimal transformation be and suppose its change in the Lagrangian is a total derivative,With canonical momentum , the chain rule and the Euler-Lagrange equations give, along a motion,Comparison with the assumed total derivative proves Noether theorem:
The given Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence, so its energy function is conserved:It is also invariant under the dilation : the velocities and all scale by the same factor, while is unchanged. The generator is and . SinceNoether's theorem supplies the second first integralThe integrals and are independent on an open dense subset of phase space.