Abstract
Recent results on the relativistic mechanics of directly interacting point particles are reviewed. A reparametrization invariant formulation of the problem is given in terms of projective tangent spaces and second order differential systems. The relation between this general approach and the phase space constraint Hamiltonian picture (including the theorem about gauge dependence of world lines for canonical coordinates in relativistic classical mechanics) is discussed. An application of the canonical Hamiltonian framework to the general relativistic 2-body problem is also reviewed.
To the memory of Yu.M. Shirokov, a pioneer in relativistic Hamiltonian mechanics.
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Nikolov, P.A., Todorov, I.T. (1982). Space-time versus phase space approach to relativistic particle dynamics. In: Doebner, HD., Palev, T.D. (eds) Twistor Geometry and Non-Linear Systems. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol 970. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0066032
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0066032
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