Institute for Applied Problems in Mechanics and Mathematics of NAS of Ukraine
15 Dudayev Str., 79005 L'viv Ukraine

E-mail:  matsyuk@lms.lviv.ua

Correct Lagrangian for Ostrohrads'kyj relativistic top

Abstract:
In the higher-order mechanics of free relativistic top various approaches have been proposed, many of them resulting in fourth-order equations of motion. But the Lagrange functions for such systems were concidered mostly ad hoc. We derive the fourth-order equation of motion from the well known Papapetrou equation with Pirani constraint in the realm of Poincare invariance and we consider a Lagrange function for it. Transition to the generalised canonical form is considered too.