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I have the following calculus of variations problem:

$$\mathcal{L}=-2X'(t)\ln{x'(t)}-2Y'(t)\ln{y'(t)}+\Lambda y(t)x'(t)$$

where $x(t)$ and $y(t)$ are the functions I'm interested in, and $X(t)$ and $Y(t)$ are given as input (I'd like them to remain general).

I know that this has a closed-form solution, because I tried plugging it into EulerEquations in Mathematica and then feeding the result directly (which included second derivatives) to DSolve, and to my surprise it gave me a closed-form mess.

Needs["VariationalMethods`"] EulerEquations [-2X'[t] Log[x'[t]]-2Y'[t] Log[y'[t]]+\[Lambda] y[t] x'[t],{x[t],y[t]},t] DSolve[%,{x[t],y[t]},{t}] 

I then tried to do the first steps by hand, in the hopes of getting a less ugly closed form solution.

The Euler-Lagrange equations are, for $x$:

$$\dfrac{\partial\mathcal{L}}{\partial x}-\dfrac{d}{dt}\dfrac{\partial\mathcal{L}}{\partial x^\prime}=0$$

$$-\dfrac{d}{dt}\left(-2\dfrac{X^\prime}{x^\prime}+\Lambda y\right)=0$$

$$2\dfrac{X^\prime}{x^\prime}-\Lambda y=c_1$$

$$\Lambda y x^\prime + c_1 x^\prime - 2X^\prime=0$$

And for $y$:

$$\dfrac{\partial\mathcal{L}}{\partial y}-\dfrac{d}{dt}\dfrac{\partial\mathcal{L}}{\partial y^\prime}=0$$

$$\Lambda x^\prime-\dfrac{d}{dt}\left(-2\dfrac{Y^\prime}{y^\prime}\right)=0$$

$$2\dfrac{Y^\prime}{y^\prime}+\Lambda x=c_2$$

$$-\Lambda x y^\prime + c_2 y^\prime - 2Y^\prime=0$$

These two equations are nice-looking and symmetric, but I tried plugging them into DSolve and it didn't work (just returned the initial DSolve).

DSolve[{\[Lambda] y[t]D[x[t],t]+c1 D[x[t],t]-2Xdot[t]==0,-\[Lambda] x[t]D[y[t],t]+c2 D[y[t],t]-2Ydot[t]==0},{x[t],y[t]},t] 

Can anyone help me proceed from here?

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A movement constant can be obtained easily by doing

L = -2 X'[t] Log[x'[t]] - 2 Y'[t] Log[y'[t]] + \[Lambda] y[t] x'[t]; equsmov = D[Grad[L, {x'[t], y'[t]}], t] - Grad[L, {x[t], y[t]}] movintegral = Integrate[Simplify[Thread[Integrate[equsmov, t] - {c1, c2}] . {x'[t], -y'[t]}], t] - c3 == 0 (** - c1 x[t] - 2 X[t] + (c2 + \[Lambda] x[t]) y[t] + 2 Y[t] == c3 **) 

or

$$ \lambda x(t)y(t)-2(X(t)-Y(t))-c_1 x(t) + c_2 y(t) = c_3 $$

This movement constant can be used to proceed in the movement ode solution.

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    $\begingroup$ I think the proper terms are Constant of motion and Equation of motion. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13, 2024 at 22:30
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    $\begingroup$ Better is conserved quantity. Thanks for the comment. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13, 2024 at 22:57
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you! This was very helpful! $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 14:01
  • $\begingroup$ (The sign convention of $c_1$ and $c_2$ is flipped with respect to my question but it won't let me edit.) $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 17, 2024 at 14:01

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