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Primary constraint
Constraint that holds without using the equations of motion

In Hamiltonian mechanics, a primary constraint is a relation between the coordinates and momenta that holds without using the equations of motion. A secondary constraint is one that is not primary—in other words it holds when the equations of motion are satisfied, but need not hold if they are not satisfied The secondary constraints arise from the condition that the primary constraints should be preserved in time. A few authors use more refined terminology, where the non-primary constraints are divided into secondary, tertiary, quaternary, etc. constraints. The secondary constraints arise directly from the condition that the primary constraints are preserved by time, the tertiary constraints arise from the condition that the secondary ones are also preserved by time, and so on. Primary and secondary constraints were introduced by Anderson and Bergmann and developed by Dirac.

The terminology of primary and secondary constraints is confusingly similar to that of first- and second-class constraints. These divisions are independent: both first- and second-class constraints can be either primary or secondary, so this gives altogether four different classes of constraints.

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Further reading

References

  1. Dirac 1964, p. 8. - Dirac, Paul A. M. (1964). Lectures on quantum mechanics. Belfer Graduate School of Science Monographs Series. Vol. 2. New York: Belfer Graduate School of Science. ISBN 9780486417134. MR 2220894. https://books.google.com/books?id=GVwzb1rZW9kC ↩

  2. Dirac 1964, p. 14. - Dirac, Paul A. M. (1964). Lectures on quantum mechanics. Belfer Graduate School of Science Monographs Series. Vol. 2. New York: Belfer Graduate School of Science. ISBN 9780486417134. MR 2220894. https://books.google.com/books?id=GVwzb1rZW9kC ↩

  3. Anderson & Bergmann 1951, p. 1019. - Anderson, James L.; Bergmann, Peter G. (1951). "Constraints in covariant field theories". Physical Review. Series 2. 83 (5): 1018–1025. Bibcode:1951PhRv...83.1018A. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.83.1018. MR 0044382. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1951PhRv...83.1018A ↩

  4. Dirac, Paul A. M. (1950). "Generalized Hamiltonian dynamics". Canadian Journal of Mathematics. 2: 129–148. doi:10.4153/CJM-1950-012-1. ISSN 0008-414X. MR 0043724. S2CID 119748805. /wiki/Paul_Dirac ↩

  5. Dirac, Paul A. M. (1958). "Generalized Hamiltonian dynamics". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 246 (1246): 326–332. Bibcode:1958RSPSA.246..326D. doi:10.1098/rspa.1958.0141. ISSN 0962-8444. JSTOR 100496. MR 0094205. S2CID 122175789. /wiki/Paul_Dirac ↩

  6. Dirac, Paul A. M. (1958). "The theory of gravitation in Hamiltonian form". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 246 (1246): 333–343. Bibcode:1958RSPSA.246..333D. doi:10.1098/rspa.1958.0142. ISSN 0962-8444. JSTOR 100497. MR 0094206. S2CID 122053391. /wiki/Paul_Dirac ↩

  7. Dirac 1964. - Dirac, Paul A. M. (1964). Lectures on quantum mechanics. Belfer Graduate School of Science Monographs Series. Vol. 2. New York: Belfer Graduate School of Science. ISBN 9780486417134. MR 2220894. https://books.google.com/books?id=GVwzb1rZW9kC ↩