Classical Dynamics: A Contemporary Approach

by Jorge V. José, Eugene J. Saletan

Publisher: Cambridge Univ Press
ISBN: 0521636361

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Book Description

Recent advances in the study of dynamical systems have revolutionized the way that classical mechanics is taught and understood. This new and comprehensive textbook provides a complete description of this fundamental branch of physics. The authors cover all the material that one would expect to find in a standard graduate course: Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, canonical transformations, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, perturbation methods, and rigid bodies. They also deal with more advanced topics such as the relativistic Kepler problem, Liouville and Darboux theorems, and inverse and chaotic scattering. A key feature of the book is the early introduction of geometric (differential manifold) ideas, as well as detailed treatment of topics in nonlinear dynamics (such as the KAM theorem) and continuum dynamics (including solitons). Over 200 homework exercises are included. It will be an ideal textbook for graduate students of physics, applied mathematics, theoretical chemistry, and engineering, as well as a useful reference for researchers in these fields. A solutions manual is available exclusively for instructors.

Card catalog description

Recent advances in the study of dynamical systems have revolutionized the way that classical mechanics is taught and understood. Classical Dynamics: A Contemporary Approach is a new and comprehensive textbook that provides a complete description of this fundamental branch of physics. It will be an ideal textbook for graduate students of physics, applied mathematics, theoretical chemistry, and engineering, and will also serve as a useful reference for researchers in these fields.

Customer Reviews

This book offers all the standard text used in undergraduate mechanics courses plus a number of more contemporary topics such as Lie derivatives, manifolds and much on nonlinear dynamical systems, all in a language appropriate for a Physics book. I consider it to be the modern equivalent of classics like the books by Goldstein or Marion. The material of this book should be the new standard for modern Classical Mechanics courses.

Classical mechanics often falls by the wayside in a modern physics curriculum. However, there are times when an understanding of subtle issues in this field are simply necessary for progress in current research directions. At times like these, one is all-too-often forced to turn to older texts such as Goldstein or directly to the literature of a field with which one is rarely intimately familiar. It is therefore a great pleasure to find a text such as Jose and Saletan's, a highly modern, extremely complete and very readable textbook on mechanics at an advanced level.

The book covers all of the standard topics of a graduate mechanics course (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, rigid bodies, etc.) as well as more modern topics such as chaotic dynamics. All these subjects are treated in great detail and both in very physical and very formal languages. Most importantly, all of these discussions (including the formal ones!) are packed with completely worked examples which allow one to begin to use these techniques without attempting to decipher formal proofs.

The breadth of topics covered and the quality of the writing make this book a valuable addition to any physicist's workbench.

This book combines the standard topics covered in a Goldstein-type course; but in a fresh light. Using techniques of modern geometry, presented in an understandable way, it explores not just the solutions of dynamical equations, but the behavior of those solutions over the manifold in which they operate. The book begins by applying this geometry to well established Newtonian mechanics. Once you have that under your belt you are propelled into the Lagrangian formulation in a way that seems quite natural and reveals, easily, the symmetries that lay within. This book is written in a tight and readable style that makes even the most difficult concepts accessable. I highly recommend it and hope that it becomes the standard by which other mechanics texts of this level are measured.

Understandable concepts. Challenging. On theother hand, ANYTHING beats the lame Marion/Thornton text which is lost in a sea ofmindlesss formalism.