Classical Mechanics

3 credits · Graduate

Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms for describing the dynamics of classical systems including point particles, rigid bodies, and continuous media; principle of least action; symmetries, conservation laws, and Noether's theorem; small oscillations about stable equilibria; canonical transformations and canonical perturbation theory; Euler and Navier-Stokes equations for describing fluid motion including laminar and turbulent flows; dynamical properties of elastic solids; additional possible topics include wave propagation on strings and membranes, driven dissipative systems, and nonlinear dynamical systems.