Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Physics

Major Professor

Steve Y. Shieh

Committee Members

W.M. Bugg, G. D. Mahan

Abstract

Jacobi found that the rotation of a symmetrical heavy top about a fixed point is composed of the two torque-free rotations of two triaxial bodies about their centers of mass. His discovery rests on the fact that the orthogonal matrix which represents the rotation of a symmetrical heavy top is decomposed into a product of two orthogonal matrices, each of which represents the torque-free rotations of two triaxial bodies. This theorem is generalized to the Kirchhoff's case of the rotation and translation of a symmetrical solid in a fluid.

This theorem requires the explicit computation, by means of theta functions, of the nine direction cosines between the rotating body axes and the fixed space axes. The addition theorem of theta functions makes it possible to decompose the rotational matrix into a product of similar matrices. This basic idea of utilizing the addition theorem is simple but the carry- through of the computation is quite involved and the full proof turns out to be a lengthy process of computing rather long and complex expressions.

For the translational motion we give a new treatment. The position of the center of mass as a function of the time is found by a direct evaluation of the elliptic integral by means of a new theta interpretation of Legendre's reduction formula of the elliptic integral.

For the complete solution of the problem we have added further the study of the physical aspects of the motion. Based on a complete examination of the all possible manifolds of the steady helical cases it is possible to obtain a full qualitative description of the motion. Many numerical examples and graphs are given to illustrate the rotation and translation of the solid in a fluid.

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