Über die instabilität konservativer systeme mit gyroskopischen kräften

Summary

Routh's theorem states that a steady motion of a discrete, conservative mechanical system is stable if the dynamic potential W(q)=U(q)−T₀(q) assumes a minimum. This is a generalized version of the theorem on the stability of equilibrium at a minimum of the potential energy, which is due to Dirichlet. It is well known that a steady motion may also be stable if W(q) assumes a maximum instead of a minimum. The stability is then due to the gyroscopic terms in the equations of motion, without which the steady motion would be unstable. Here it is shown that the steady motion is always unstable if not only W(q) but also H ₀(q) assumes a maximum, H ₀(q) being the part of the Hamiltonian that does not depend on the momenta. It is astonishing that this unexpectedly simple criterion was not found before now. In the proof, a variational formulation is used for the problem, and the instability is shown directly from the existence of certain motions which diverge from the trivial solution.