Boundary Conditions for Constraint Systems in Variational Principle

Abstract

We show the well-posed variational principle in constraint systems. In a naive procedure of the variational principle with constraints, the proper number of boundary conditions does not match with that of physical degrees of freedom dynamical variables, which implies that, even in theories with up to first order derivatives, the minimal (or extremal) of the action with the boundary terms is not a solution of equation of motion in the Dirac procedure of constrained systems. We propose specific and concrete steps to solve this problem. These steps utilize the Hamilton formalism, which allows us to separate the physical degrees of freedom from the constraints. It reveals the physical degrees of freedom which is necessary to be fixed on boundaries, and also enables us to specify the variables to be fixed and the surface terms.

arXiv comment9 pages. v2: published version from PTEP, 16 pages

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Dirac-Bergmann analysis and Degrees of Freedom of Coincident $f(Q)$-gravity
• Variational Principles for Hamiltonian Systems