GENERALIZED GALILEI-INVARIANT CLASSICAL MECHANICS

Abstract

To describe the "slow" motions of n interacting mass points, we give the most general four-dimensional (4D) noninstantaneous, nonparticle symmetric Galilei-invariant variational principle. It involves two-body invariants constructed from particle 4-positions and 4-velocities of the proper orthochronous inhomogeneous Galilei group. The resulting 4D equations of motion and multiple-time conserved quantities involve integrals over the worldlines of the other n-1 interacting particles. For a particular time-asymmetric retarded (advanced) interaction, we show the vanishing of all integrals over worldlines in the ten standard 4D multiple-time conserved quantities, thus yielding a Newtonian-like initial value problem. This interaction gives 3D noninstantaneous, nonparticle symmetric, coupled nonlinear second-order delay-differential equations of motion that involve only algebraic combinations of nonsimultaneous particle positions, velocities, and accelerations. The ten 3D noninstantaneous, nonparticle symmetric conserved quantities involve only algebraic combinations of nonsimultaneous particle positions and velocities. A two-body example with a generalized Newtonian gravity is provided. We suggest that this formalism might be useful as an alternative slow-motion mechanics for astrophysical applications.