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2 votes
0 answers
53 views

Symplectic (or alike) integrator for system with Coulomb singularity and time-dependent potentials

I am trying to calculate classical trajectories for a single a ion and a single electron inside an RF trap. Therefore, I am dealing with a two-body system that possesses: Coulomb potential with a ...
3 votes
0 answers
107 views

Mathematical formulation of beam: get stress/strain from forces and momentum

I'm working with static beams with Euler–Bernoulli model which ODE is $$ \dfrac{d^2}{dx^2} \left(EI \cdot \dfrac{d^2w}{dx^2}\right) = q(x). $$ With a beam along the $x$ axis, the solution consists of ...
2 votes
1 answer
160 views

Mechanics: Model beam using differential vectorial formulation

At the Wikipedia there are the differential formulation for Euler-Bernoulli Beam \eqref{1} and Timoshenko Beam \eqref{2} $$ \begin{align} &\dfrac{d^2}{dx^2}\left(EI\dfrac{d^2w}{dx^2}\right) = q(x) ...
4 votes
0 answers
235 views

Generalising Bäcklund transform to solve $\omega''(t)=t\sin\omega(t)$

Bäcklund transformations may be used also in ODE to solve non-linear problems; for instance, it's well known that for the equation $$ \frac{\mathrm{d}^2\omega}{\mathrm{d}t^2}=\sin\omega \tag{*}\label{...
4 votes
1 answer
363 views

Nonlinear ODE to linear PDE?

I am interested in when and how one can trade a non-liner ODE for a linear PDE. To explain what this could look like here is a physics-inspired discussion. Consider a classical mechanical system with ...
4 votes
2 answers
592 views

Can one obtain this ODE as an Euler-Lagrange equation?

Some of the second order ODE can be considered as Euler-Lagrange equations for an appropriate Lagrangian. However this is true not for arbitrary second order equation. But some of important equations ...
13 votes
3 answers
633 views

Random N-body problem

Suppose there are $N$ unit-mass particles whose initial positions are uniformly distributed in a unit-radius disk. Each particle is assigned a randomly oriented initial velocity vector $v_i$ of length ...
101 votes
1 answer
8k views

Dropping three bodies

Consider the usual three-body problem with Newtonian $1/r^2$ force between masses. Let the three masses start off at rest, and not collinear. Then they will become collinear a finite time ...
4 votes
0 answers
116 views

Dynamics of pairwise distances in the $n$-body problem

Disclaimer: I have asked this question on Physics SE a week ago, but got no answers. I know that some MO users are interested in the $n$-body problem, so I decided to cross post here as well. ...
0 votes
1 answer
89 views

underdamped oscillation with quadratic decay

I know that for a 2nd order linear differential equation system, there are 3 possible scenarios: over-damped, critically damped and underdamped. For the underdamped case the solutions are of the form: ...
33 votes
5 answers
12k views

Differentiable functions with discontinuous derivatives

For years I've taught my honors calculus students about functions like (the continuous extension of) $x^2 \sin 1/x$, and for just as many years I've told them that they won't encounter functions like ...
4 votes
1 answer
372 views

Find a maximizing solution to an ODE which depends on a paramater function

(For the physical meaning of this problem see https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/122818/how-should-i-throttle-my-rocket-to-reach-highest-altitude). Given $g \in (0,\infty), k \in C^1( [0, \...
3 votes
0 answers
135 views

Motivation for the existence of periodic solutions [closed]

I have been reading the book Critical Point Theory and Hamiltonian System by Mawhin and Willem, as well as several other papers on the existence of periodic solutions for equations of the form $$\ddot{...
17 votes
6 answers
3k views

Catenary curve under non-uniform gravitational field

The catenary curve is the shape of a chain hanging between two equal-height poles under the influence of gravity. But the derivation of the (hyperbolic cosine) curve equation from the physics ...
15 votes
9 answers
4k views

Newton equations, second order equation and (im)possible motions

I am am currently studying Newtonian mechanics from a conceptional and axiomatic point of view. Now, if I am not mistaken, one (but surely not all) statement of Newtons second law about nature is, ...
6 votes
3 answers
450 views

Do there exist small neighborhoods in a classical mechanical system without pairs of focal points?

The question I will ask makes sense in much more generality, but I will leave the translation to the experts, since I'm only looking for a special case (and it would not surprise me if the answer does ...
3 votes
0 answers
167 views

How to find solutions of non-linear ODE with particular BCs

What are some methods, numerical or otherwise, of finding solutions to nonlinear ODEs that satisfy particular boundary conditions? In particular, I'm looking for curves y(s) constrained to a ...
2 votes
1 answer
2k views

Derivation of Bessel functions

I am writing a summary on a work on Fluid Dynamics that develops irrotational flow states that appear to interact amongst each other according to the equations of Electromagnetism http://arxiv.org/abs/...
17 votes
5 answers
2k views

2- and 3-body problems when gravity is not inverse-square

Suppose that gravity did not follow an inverse-square law, but was instead a central force diminishing as $1/d^p$ for distance separation $d$ and some power $p$. Two questions: Presumably the 2-body ...
32 votes
2 answers
2k views

Gently falling functions

I wonder if it is possible to characterize the class of gently falling functions, which I would like to define as follows. Let $g(x)$ be a $C^2$ function defined on an interval $R \subseteq \mathbb{R}$...
3 votes
2 answers
947 views

Herpolhode equation

Poinsot’s construction describes the motion of a freely rotating rigid body in terms of an ellipsoid rolling on a plane. (http://www.phys.ttu.edu/~huang24/Teaching/Phys5306/CH5C.pdf), and the path of ...
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

On the non-rigorous calculations of the trajectories in the moon landings

In a paragraph written by a person emphasizing that rigour is not everything in mathematics (I wish I had written down the details), it was stated that the moon landings would have been impossible ...