Darwin Lagrangian

The relativistic interaction Lagrangian for a particle with charge q interacting with an electromagnetic field is[1]^{: 580–581}

$${\displaystyle L_{\text{int}}=-q\Phi +{\frac {q}{c}}\mathbf {u} \cdot \mathbf {A} ,}$$

where u is the relativistic velocity of the particle. The first term on the right generates the Coulomb interaction. The second term generates the Darwin interaction.

The vector potential in the Coulomb gauge is described by[1]^: 242 (Gaussian units)

$${\displaystyle \nabla ^{2}\mathbf {A} -{\frac {1}{c^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}\mathbf {A} }{\partial t^{2}}}=-{\frac {4\pi }{c}}\mathbf {J} _{t}}$$

where the transverse current J_t is the solenoidal current (see Helmholtz decomposition) generated by a second particle. The divergence of the transverse current is zero.

The current generated by the second particle is

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {J} =q_{2}\mathbf {v} _{2}\delta {\left(\mathbf {r} -\mathbf {r} _{2}\right)},}$$

which has a Fourier transform

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {J} \left(\mathbf {k} \right)\equiv \int d^{3}r\exp \left(-i\mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {r} \right)\mathbf {J} \left(\mathbf {r} \right)=q_{2}\mathbf {v} _{2}\exp \left(-i\mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {r} _{2}\right).}$$

The transverse component of the current is

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {J} _{t}(\mathbf {k} )=q_{2}\left[\mathbf {1} -{\hat {\mathbf {k} }}{\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}e^{-i\mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {r} _{2}}.}$$

It is easily verified that

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {J} _{t}(\mathbf {k} )=0,}$$

which must be true if the divergence of the transverse current is zero. We see that ${\displaystyle \mathbf {J} _{t}(\mathbf {k} )}$ is the component of the Fourier transformed current perpendicular to k.

From the equation for the vector potential, the Fourier transform of the vector potential is

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {A} \left(\mathbf {k} \right)={\frac {4\pi }{c}}{\frac {q_{2}}{k^{2}}}\left[\mathbf {1} -{\hat {\mathbf {k} }}{\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}e^{-i\mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {r} _{2}}}$$

where we have kept only the lowest order term in v/c.

The inverse Fourier transform of the vector potential is

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {A} \left(\mathbf {r} \right)=\int {\frac {d^{3}k}{\left(2\pi \right)^{3}}}\;\mathbf {A} (\mathbf {k} )\;e^{i\mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {r} _{1}}={\frac {q_{2}}{2c}}{\frac {1}{r}}\left[\mathbf {1} +{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}}$$

where

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {r} =\mathbf {r} _{1}-\mathbf {r} _{2}}$$

(see Common integrals in quantum field theory § Transverse potential with mass).

The Darwin interaction term in the Lagrangian is then

$${\displaystyle L_{\text{D}}={\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r}}{\frac {1}{2c^{2}}}\mathbf {v} _{1}\cdot \left[\mathbf {1} +{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}}$$

where again we kept only the lowest order term in v/c.

The equation of motion for one of the particles is

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d}{dt}}{\frac {\partial }{\partial \mathbf {v} _{1}}}L\left(\mathbf {r} _{1},\mathbf {v} _{1}\right)=\nabla _{1}L\left(\mathbf {r} _{1},\mathbf {v} _{1}\right)}$$

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d\mathbf {p} _{1}}{dt}}=\nabla _{1}L\left(\mathbf {r} _{1},\mathbf {v} _{1}\right)}$$

where p₁ is the momentum of the particle.

Free particle

The equation of motion for a free particle neglecting interactions between the two particles is

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d}{dt}}\left[\left(1+{\frac {1}{2}}{\frac {v_{1}^{2}}{c^{2}}}\right)m_{1}\mathbf {v} _{1}\right]=0}$$

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {p} _{1}=\left(1+{\frac {1}{2}}{\frac {v_{1}^{2}}{c^{2}}}\right)m_{1}\mathbf {v} _{1}}$$

Interacting particles

For interacting particles, the equation of motion becomes

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d}{dt}}\left[\left(1+{\frac {1}{2}}{\frac {v_{1}^{2}}{c^{2}}}\right)m_{1}\mathbf {v} _{1}+{\frac {q_{1}}{c}}\mathbf {A} \left(\mathbf {r} _{1}\right)\right]=-\nabla {\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r}}+\nabla \left[{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r}}{\frac {1}{2c^{2}}}\mathbf {v} _{1}\cdot \left[\mathbf {1} +{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}\right]}$$

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d\mathbf {p} _{1}}{dt}}={\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r^{2}}}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}+{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r^{2}}}{\frac {1}{2c^{2}}}\left\{\mathbf {v} _{1}\left({{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}}\right)+\mathbf {v} _{2}\left({{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\cdot \mathbf {v} _{1}}\right)-{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\left[\mathbf {v} _{1}\cdot \left(\mathbf {1} +3{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right)\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}\right]\right\}}$$

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {p} _{1}=\left(1+{\frac {1}{2}}{\frac {v_{1}^{2}}{c^{2}}}\right)m_{1}\mathbf {v} _{1}+{\frac {q_{1}}{c}}\mathbf {A} \left(\mathbf {r} _{1}\right)}$$

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {A} \left(\mathbf {r} _{1}\right)={\frac {q_{2}}{2c}}{\frac {1}{r}}\left[\mathbf {1} +{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}}$$

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {r} =\mathbf {r} _{1}-\mathbf {r} _{2}}$$

The Darwin Hamiltonian for two particles in a vacuum is related to the Lagrangian by a Legendre transformation

$${\displaystyle H=\mathbf {p} _{1}\cdot \mathbf {v} _{1}+\mathbf {p} _{2}\cdot \mathbf {v} _{2}-L.}$$

The Hamiltonian becomes

$${\displaystyle H\left(\mathbf {r} _{1},\mathbf {p} _{1},\mathbf {r} _{2},\mathbf {p} _{2}\right)=\left(1-{\frac {1}{4}}{\frac {p_{1}^{2}}{m_{1}^{2}c^{2}}}\right){\frac {p_{1}^{2}}{2m_{1}}}\;+\;\left(1-{\frac {1}{4}}{\frac {p_{2}^{2}}{m_{2}^{2}c^{2}}}\right){\frac {p_{2}^{2}}{2m_{2}}}\;+\;{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r}}\;-\;{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r}}{\frac {1}{2m_{1}m_{2}c^{2}}}\mathbf {p} _{1}\cdot \left[\mathbf {1} +\mathbf {\hat {r}} \mathbf {\hat {r}} \right]\cdot \mathbf {p} _{2}.}$$

The Hamiltonian equations of motion are

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {v} _{1}={\frac {\partial H}{\partial \mathbf {p} _{1}}}}$$

and

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d\mathbf {p} _{1}}{dt}}=-\nabla _{1}H}$$

which yield

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {v} _{1}=\left(1-{\frac {1}{2}}{\frac {p_{1}^{2}}{m_{1}^{2}c^{2}}}\right){\frac {\mathbf {p} _{1}}{m_{1}}}-{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{2m_{1}m_{2}c^{2}}}{\frac {1}{r}}\left[\mathbf {1} +{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right]\cdot \mathbf {p} _{2}}$$

and

$${\displaystyle {\frac {d\mathbf {p} _{1}}{dt}}={\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r^{2}}}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\;+\;{\frac {q_{1}q_{2}}{r^{2}}}{\frac {1}{2m_{1}m_{2}c^{2}}}\left\{\mathbf {p} _{1}\left({{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\cdot \mathbf {p} _{2}}\right)+\mathbf {p} _{2}\left({{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\cdot \mathbf {p} _{1}}\right)-{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\left[\mathbf {p} _{1}\cdot \left(\mathbf {1} +3{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}{\hat {\mathbf {r} }}\right)\cdot \mathbf {p} _{2}\right]\right\}}$$

Note that the quantum mechanical Breit equation originally used the Darwin Lagrangian with the Darwin Hamiltonian as its classical starting point though the Breit equation would be better vindicated by the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory and better yet quantum electrodynamics.

• Static forces and virtual-particle exchange
• Breit equation
• Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory