Equivalence among Maupertuis' variational principle, Newton's second law and conformal geometry

摘要

Applications of differential geometry in physics are not uniquely restricted to general relativity. This paper is devoted to show one of the many possible applications of geometrical methods to an elementary but deep physical concept: the Newton's second law. We show how to obtain Maupertuis' variational principle by using Newton's second law. We also investigate, in a comprehensive and pedagogical way, the duality principle between classical mechanics and conformal geometry, exhibiting the equivalence between Maupertuis' variational principle and the problem of minimizing the geodesics arc length in conformal geometry. Finally we discuss some possible generalizations and obtain the duality, respectively between the three body problem and a coupled system of n particles, and the respective conformal metrics that endow the geometry associated with each one of the scenarios described by physical systems.