[Physics] Energy and momentum as partial derivatives of on-shell action in field theory

actioncanonical-conjugationclassical-mechanicsfield-theory

According to L&L, if we fix the initial position of a particle at a given time and consider the on-shell action as a function of the final coordinates and time, $S(q_1, \ldots, q_n, t)$, then…

$$E = -\frac{\partial S}{\partial t}$$

$$p_i = \frac{\partial S}{\partial q_i}$$

Is there a straightforward generalization of this to field theory? Something that would give the energy and momentum densities by differentiating the on-shell action (with respect to… something)?

Best Answer

Yes, this is e.g considered in Ref. 1. In field theory, the starting point is the off-shell action$^1$

$$\tag{1} I[\phi; t_f,t_i] ~:=~\int_{t_i}^{t_f} \! dt~\int_{\Sigma} d^3x~ {\cal L}(\phi(x,t),\dot{\phi}(x,t), \partial_x \phi(x,t);x,t) , $$

where $t_i$ and $t_f$ denote initial and final times, respectively. We now impose appropriate boundary conditions (B.C.), e.g. Dirichlet B.C.

$$\tag{2} \phi^{\alpha}(x,t_i)~=~\phi^{\alpha}_i(x) \qquad \text{and}\qquad \phi^{\alpha}(x,t_f)~=~\phi^{\alpha}_f(x) . $$

We assume that for given B.C. (2) there exists a unique solution $\phi_{\rm cl}$ to the Euler-Lagrange equations. OP is interested in the (Dirichlet) on-shell action defined as

$$\tag{3} S[\phi_f,t_f; \phi_i,t_i] ~:=~ I[\phi_{\rm cl}; t_f,t_i].$$

Next define (Lagrangian) momentum field

$$\tag{4} \pi_{\alpha}(x,t) ~:=~\frac{\partial {\cal L}(\phi(x,t),\dot{\phi}(x,t), \partial_x \phi(x,t);x,t)}{\partial \dot{\phi}^{\alpha}(x,t)}, $$

and energy

$$\tag{5} h(t)~:=~\int_{\Sigma} d^3x~\left(\sum_{\alpha}\pi_{\alpha}(x,t)\dot{\phi}^{\alpha}(x,t) -{\cal L}(\phi(x,t),\dot{\phi}(x,t), \partial_x \phi(x,t);x,t)\right).$$

Then one may show field-theoretically$^{2}$ that

$$\tag{6} \frac{\delta S}{\delta \phi^{\alpha}_f(x)}~=~ \pi_{\alpha}(x,t_f), \qquad \frac{\delta S}{\delta \phi^{\alpha}_i(x)}~=~ -\pi_{\alpha}(x,t_i) ,$$

and

$$\tag{7} \frac{\partial S}{\partial t_f}~=~-h(t_f), \qquad \frac{\partial S}{\partial t_i}~=~h(t_i). $$

Example: A free field Lagrangian density ${\cal L} = \frac{1}{2}\phi^2$ leads to

$$ \tag{8} S(\phi_f,t_f; \phi_i,t_i) ~=~ \frac{1}{2(t_f-t_i)} \int_{\Sigma} d^3x~(\phi_f(x)-\phi_i(x))^2 .$$

References:

  1. MTW; Section 21.1 and Section 21.2.

  2. L.D. Landau & E.M. Lifshitz, Mechanics, vol. 1, 1976; $\S$ 43.

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$^1$ For actions in point mechanics, see e.g. this Phys.SE post.

$^2$ For a proof in point mechanics, see e.g. Ref. 2 and my Phys.SE answer here.