Classical dynamics is traditionally treated as an early stage in the
development of physics, a stage that has long been superseded by more
ambitious theories. Here, in this book, classical dynamics is treated as
a subject on its own as well as a research frontier. Incorporating
insights gained over the past several decades, the essential principles
of classical dynamics are presented, while demonstrating that a number
of key results originally considered only in the context of quantum
theory and particle physics, have their foundations in classical
dynamics.Graduate students in physics and practicing physicists will
welcome the present approach to classical dynamics that encompasses
systems of particles, free and interacting fields, and coupled systems.
Lie groups and Lie algebras are incorporated at a basic level and are
used in describing space-time symmetry groups. There is an extensive
discussion on constrained systems, Dirac brackets and their geometrical
interpretation. The Lie-algebraic description of dynamical systems is
discussed in detail, and Poisson brackets are developed as a realization
of Lie brackets. Other topics include treatments of classical spin,
elementary relativistic systems in the classical context, irreducible
realizations of the Galileo and Poincaré groups, and hydrodynamics as a
Galilean field theory. Students will also find that this approach that
deals with problems of manifest covariance, the no-interaction theorem
in Hamiltonian mechanics and the structure of action-at-a-distance
theories provides all the essential preparatory groundwork for a passage
to quantum field theory.This reprinting of the original text published
in 1974 is a testimony to the vitality of the contents that has remained
relevant over nearly half a century.
