ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Nonlocal Lagrangian

Imagine you have a toy car that you want to move from one place to another. In order to do this, you need to push it with your hand. The amount of force you use and the direction you push the car determine how far and in what direction it will move.

Now imagine that instead of pushing the car directly, you tie a string to it and pull the string from a distance. The same principles apply, but instead of your hand being the source of the force, it's the tension in the string that moves the car.

In the world of physics, the same thing can happen with particles and fields. A Lagrangian is a set of equations that describe how particles move as a result of forces acting on them. In most cases, these forces come from nearby particles or interactions within a field.

However, in some cases, a particle can be affected by forces from a distant particle or field. This is what is known as nonlocality. It means that even if a particle is far away from another particle or field, it can still feel its effects.

A nonlocal Lagrangian is simply a set of equations that accounts for nonlocality. It describes how particles move as a result of forces not just from nearby particles or fields, but also from distant ones. It's like pulling a toy car with a really long string, so that the force still reaches it even if you're not right next to it.

Overall, a nonlocal Lagrangian is a way of accounting for the fact that particles can be affected by forces even if those forces are coming from far away.