Lagrangian equation quantum mechanics

In quantum mechanics, the spatial variables are constituted by generalized coordinates (, ), which replace the individual Cartesian coordinates of all single particles in the set. The Lagrangian equations of motion are the Newtonian equations transposed to the generalized coordinate system. 

Not only mechanics but all of physics can be derived from the principle of least action. There are appropriate Lagrangian functions for electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, hydrodynamics, etc., which all allow us to derive the basic equations of the respective discipline from the principle of least action. In this sense, the principle of least action is the most powerful economy principle known in physics since it is sufficient to know the principle of least action, and the rest can be derived. Nature as a whole seems to be organized according to this principle. The principle of least action can be found under various names in nearly every branch of science. For instance the principle of least cost in economy or Fermat s principle of least time in optics. 

The END theory was proposed in 1988 [11] as a general approach to deal with time-dependent non-adiabatic processes in quantum chemistry. We have applied the END method to the study of time-dependent processes in energy loss [12-16]. The END method takes advantage of a coherent state representation of the molecular wave function. A quantum mechanical Lagrangian formulation is employed to approximate the Schrodinger equation, via the time-dependent variational principle, by a set of coupled first-order differential equations in time to describe the END. 

Earlier in this section it was commented on how the minimal-coupling QED Hamiltonian is obtained from fhe classical Lagrangian function. A few words are in order regarding the derivation of the multipolar Hamiltonian (6). One method involves the application of a canonical transformation to the minimal-coupling Hamiltonian [32]. In classical mechanics, such a transformation renders the Poisson bracket and Hamilton s canonical equations of motion invariant. In quantum mechanics, a canonical transformation preserves both the commutator and Heisenberg s operator equation of motion. The appropriate generating function that converts H uit is propor-... 

The use of functionals and their derivatives is not limited to density-functional theory, or even to quantum mechanics. In classical mechanics, e.g., one expresses the Lagrangian C in terms of of generalized coordinates q(x,t) and their temporal derivatives q(x,t), and obtains the equations of motion from extremizing the action functional 4[g] = J C q, q t)dt. The resulting equations of motion are the well-known Euler-Lagrange equations 0 = = fy — > which are a special case of Eq. (14). 

A number of manipulations are possible, once this formalism has been established. There are useful analogies both with the Eulerian and Lagrangian pictures of incompressible fluid flow, and with the Heisenberg and Schrodinger pictures of quantum mechanics T, chapter 7], [M, chapter 11]. These analogies are particularly useful in formulating the equations of classical response theory [39], linking transport coefficients with both equilibrium and nonequilibrium simulations [35]. 

Equations (3) and (4) for the electronic wave function describe a Thouless determinant [4] and the time-dependent complex coefficients Zp t) are called Thouless coefficients. An important quantity is the overlap of two Thouless determinants S = As the quantum-mechanical Lagrangian... 

Newton s formulation is not the only way in which classical equations of motion can be formulated. Lagrange (Joseph Louis Lagrange, France, 1736-1813), Hamilton (William Rowan Hamilton, Ireland, 1805-1865), and others developed different means, and it is the formulation of Hamilton that has proven the most useful framework for developing the mechanics of quantum systems. It is important to realize that Newtonian, Lagrangian, and Hamiltonian mechanics offer equivalent descriptions of classical systems. 

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