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A particle of mass m oscillates up and down on a smooth surface of revolution parameterized as:

$$(x= a \sin \phi \cos t, y= a \sin \phi \sin t,z= a(\cos \phi+ \log \tan \phi/2 )\;) $$

The $z$-axis is vertical up. $t$ is polar angle, $\phi$ is angle of tangent to z-axis.

A 3d spiral motion on this pseudospherical horn ensues without friction under the action of gravity. The trajectories look somewhat like this when viewed along $z$ axis:

Precession

Depending on the kinetic energy imparted at start other orbits can be seen.

Please help find the Lagrangian of the system and its time period of oscillation. Comments for clarification/ solution appreciated.

Narasimham
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1 Answers1

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With

$$ p = (x,y,z)=\left(a \sin (\phi (\tau )) \cos (t(\tau )),a \sin (\phi (\tau )) \sin (t(\tau )),a \left(\cos (\phi (\tau ))+\ln \left(\tan \left(\frac{\phi (\tau )}{2}\right)\right)\right)\right) $$

we have

$$ v = \dot p = \left(a \left(\phi '(\tau ) \cos (\phi (\tau )) \cos (t(\tau ))-\sin (\phi (\tau )) t'(\tau ) \sin (t(\tau ))\right),a \left(\phi '(\tau ) \cos (\phi (\tau )) \sin (t(\tau ))+\sin (\phi (\tau )) t'(\tau ) \cos (t(\tau ))\right),a \phi '(\tau ) \cos (\phi (\tau )) \cot (\phi (\tau ))\right) $$

so the Lagrangian reads

$$ L = \frac 12 m v\cdot v - m g z(\phi(\tau)) = \frac{1}{2} a m \left(a \phi '(\tau )^2 \cot ^2(\phi (\tau ))+a \sin ^2(\phi (\tau )) t'(\tau )^2-2 g \left(\cos (\phi (\tau ))+\ln \left(\tan \left(\frac{\phi (\tau )}{2}\right)\right)\right)\right) $$

the movement equations

$$ \left\{ \begin{array}{rcl} \phi ''(\tau )& = & \sin (\phi (\tau )) \left(\sin (\phi (\tau )) \tan (\phi (\tau )) t'(\tau )^2-\frac{g}{a}\right)+\phi '(\tau )^2 \csc (\phi (\tau )) \sec (\phi (\tau )) \\ t''(\tau )& = & -2 \phi '(\tau ) \cot (\phi (\tau )) t'(\tau ) \\ \end{array} \right. $$

Solving those DEs for $a = 1, m = 1, g = 10, \phi(0) = 0.5, t(0) = 0.5, \dot\phi(0) = 1,\dot t(0)= 2$ we obtain the corresponding orbit in blue, shown in the attached plot

enter image description here

Follows the orbit projected into the $XY$ plane

enter image description here

Follows the plot for $z$ (black), $t(\tau)/10$ (red), and $r = \sqrt{x^2+y^2}$ (blue)

enter image description here

Cesareo
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  • So well formed ! I saw a particle ( a small steel ball was used ) that goes so deep in and comes back to its original height after a few rotations in the well, and all that has been fully formulated here ..Can we also see $ r= \sqrt{x^2+y^2}, z $ plots for a couple of periods? – Narasimham Nov 20 '20 at 19:06
  • I wish to compare the calculated period with $ 2 \pi \sqrt {a/g}.$ – Narasimham Nov 20 '20 at 19:09
  • Please. See plot attached. – Cesareo Nov 20 '20 at 19:48
  • Please include $z(\tau), t(\tau)$ along with $r(\tau)$ on same axes. The precession and its rate are also quite interesting.Wonder if there is a law/phenomenon about it. – Narasimham Nov 20 '20 at 20:41
  • Thanks for the (r,t,z) plots. Can we address three related questions: 1) You used Euler-Lagrange equations on Lagrangian with independent variables $ ϕ(\tau), ϕ′(τ) \text { and } t(τ),t′(τ)$ separately... to obtain the two coupled DEs, right? 2) The particle periodically moves on the fixed (same) closed path shown in which the z seems proportionate to r okay? 3) Is there a way to find time period analytically? – Narasimham Nov 22 '20 at 07:38