Role within programme and connections to other courses. This third, elective mechanics course can afford to take a more philosophical approach to Hamiltonian mechanics, while Mechanics II will, of necessity, be more pragmatic. In addition, our tools can now be used in a variety of very sophisticated circumstances.
Content. Topics might include Hamiltonian mechanics with greater reach, canonical transformations, Hamilton-Jacobi theory, action-angle variables, collision theory, non-linear mechanics and chaos, continuum mechanics (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations, in contrast to the Continuum and Fluid Mechanics course).