Combining Symmetries and Helmholtz’s Conditions to Construct Lagrangians

We present new relations derived from Noether’s identity that reveal the compatibility between the components of the Hessian matrix of the Lagrangian, the infinitesimal symmetry transformation of the configuration variables and time, and a constant of motion. Using these relations, we develop two new methods to incorporate symmetry requirements directly into the inverse problem of mechanics, thereby restricting the set of acceptable Lagrangians. We accomplish this by combining these relations with Helmholtz’s conditions, which allow us to construct Lagrangians whose actions exhibit specific symmetries from the outset. The theory is illustrated with one‐ and two‐dimensional examples.