Archives for May, 2026

The principle of stationary action derivation

Start with the actionS=∫d4x L(ϕ,∂μϕ)S=\int d^4x \, \mathcal{L}(\phi,\partial_\mu \phi)S=∫d4xL(ϕ,∂μ​ϕ) The physical field configuration is the one for which a small variation of the field,ϕ(x)→ϕ(x)+δϕ(x)\phi(x)\rightarrow \phi(x)+\delta\phi(x)ϕ(x)→ϕ(x)+δϕ(x) does not change the action to…
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