Generalization of Noether Theorem and action principle for non-Lagrangian theories

Abstract

A non-Lagrangian field theory is a theory whose field equations cannot be derived from the action principle. The action principle is described by holonomic variational equations. These equations can be used only for standard field theories, equations of which can be represented as Euler–Lagrange equations for some Lagrangian density. In the general case, one should use non-holonomic variational equations to obtain a wider class of field equations. In this paper, it is proposed to use the Sedov non-holonomic variational equation as a generalization of action principle. Examples of application of non-holonomic variational equations to derive various field equations are suggested. The standard Noether theorem is formulated for the standard (Lagrangian) field theory with an action functional and expresses the invariance of the Lagrangian with respect to some continuous group of transformations. In this paper, a generalization of Noether’s theorem for non-Lagrangian field theories is proposed and proved by using the non-holonomic variational equation. The expression of Noether current is described in the general case of non-Lagrangian field theory. The energy–momentum tensor, orbital angular-momentum tensor and spin angular-momentum tensor are given for non-Lagrangian field theories. Examples of application of generalized first Noether’s theorem are suggested for scalar end vector fields of non-Lagrangian field theory. An important result of this paper is the proof of possibility of existence of some analogues of dissipative structures in non-Lagrangian field theories and some properties of such structures are suggested.