Least Action
Contents
Full Title
Least Action is used with variational calculus to determine the least costly path to a given goal.
Context
Typically Least Action is a metric to determine the least energetic path of a particle or wave in physics.
Brachistochrone
the curve between two points that in the shortest time by a body moving under an external force without friction; the curve of quickest descent.
Hamilton's Principle
a general principle of least action for classical mechanics, which states that the dynamics of a physical system are determined by a variational problem for a functional based on its Lagrangian, which contains all the physical information concerning the system and the forces acting on it
The Principle
The principle of least action originates in the idea that, if nature has a purpose, it should follow a minimum or critical path. This simple principle, and its variants and generalizations, applies to optics, mechanics, electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics, and provides an essential guide to understanding the beauty of physics.[1]
Optics
In optics, Fermat proposed his principle that the path taken between two points by a ray of light is the path that can be traversed in the least time, such as a straight ray in a uniform medium, or the refraction of light passing through an interface between two media. In this principle, the traversal time is the optimization object and the product of the refraction index and the optical path is regarded as the action. After Fermat, Maupertuis and Euler independently proposed Maupertuis’s principle for mechanics, which states that the path followed by a physical system is the one having the shortest length (with a suitable interpretation of path and length).
Computation
Landauers' Principle[2]
Biology
References
- ↑ Alberto Rojo and Anthony Bloch, The Principle of Least Action - History and Physics Cambridge UP (2018-04) ISBN: 9780521869027
- ↑ Charles H. Bennett, Notes on Landauer's principle, Reversible Computation and Maxwell's Demon. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics volume=34 issue=3 pp. 501–510 (2003) http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos576/papers/bennett03.pdf DOI 10.1016/S1355-2198(03)00039-X
Other Material
- See wiki page on the Eventful Universe
- See the wiki page on Feynman Least Action Thesis for the application of Least Action to Quantum Mechanics
