Tom Mestdag

Lie algebroid structures and Lagrangian systems on affine bundles

Abstract As a continuation of previous papers, we study the concept of a Lie algebroid structure on an affine bundle by means of the canonical immersion of the affine bundle into its bidual. We pay particular attention to the prolongation and various lifting procedures, and to the geometrical construction of Lagrangian-type dynamics on an affine Lie algebroid.

Hamiltonization of nonholonomic systems and the inverse problem of the calculus of variations

We introduce a method which allows one to recover the equations of motion of a class of nonholonomic systems by finding instead an unconstrained Hamiltonian system on the full phase space, and to restrict the resulting canonical equations to an appropriate submanifold of phase space. We focus first on the Lagrangian picture of the method and deduce the corresponding Hamiltonian from the Legendre transformation. We illustrate the method with several examples and we discuss its relationship to the Pontryagin maximum principle.

Lie algebroid structures on a class of affine bundles

We introduce the notion of a Lie algebroid structure on an affine bundle whose base manifold is fibered over R. It is argued that this is the framework which one needs for coming to a time-dependent generalization of the theory of Lagrangian systems on Lie algebroids. An extensive discussion is given of a way one can think of forms acting on sections of the affine bundle. It is further shown that the affine Lie algebroid structure gives rise to a coboundary operator on such forms. The concept of admissible curves and dynamical systems whose integral curves are admissible brings an associated affine bundle into the picture, on which one can define in a natural way a prolongation of the original affine Lie algebroid structure.

Routh’s procedure for non-Abelian symmetry groups

We extend Routh’s reduction procedure to an arbitrary Lagrangian system (that is, one whose Lagrangian is not necessarily the difference of kinetic and potential energies) with a symmetry group which is not necessarily Abelian. To do so, we analyze the restriction of the Euler–Lagrange field to a level set of momentum in velocity phase space. We present a new method of analysis based on the use of quasivelocities. We discuss the reconstruction of solutions of the full Euler–Lagrange equations from those of the reduced equations.

A generalization of Chaplygin’s Reducibility Theorem

In this paper we study Chaplygin’s Reducibility Theorem and extend its applicability to nonholonomic systems with symmetry described by the Hamilton-Poincaré-d’Alembert equations in arbitrary degrees of freedom. As special cases we extract the extension of the Theorem to nonholonomic Chaplygin systems with nonabelian symmetry groups as well as Euler-Poincaré-Suslov systems in arbitrary degrees of freedom. In the latter case, we also extend the Hamiltonization Theorem to nonholonomic systems which do not possess an invariant measure. Lastly, we extend previous work on conditionally variational systems using the results above. We illustrate the results through various examples of well-known nonholonomic systems.

A Lie algebroid framework for non-holonomic systems

In order to obtain a framework in which both non-holonomic mechanical systems and non-holonomic mechanical systems with symmetry can be described, we introduce in this paper the notion of a Lagrangian system on a subbundle of a Lie algebroid.

The inverse problem for Lagrangian systems with certain non-conservative forces

We discuss two generalizations of the inverse problem of the calculus of variations, one in which a given mechanical system can be brought into the form of Lagrangian equations with non-conservative forces of a generalized Rayleigh dissipation type, the other leading to Lagrangian equations with so-called gyroscopic forces. Our approach focusses primarily on obtaining coordinate-free conditions for the existence of a suitable non-singular multiplier matrix, which will lead to an equivalent representation of a given system of second-order equations as one of these Lagrangian systems with non-conservative forces.

Reduced dynamics and Lagrangian submanifolds of symplectic manifolds

In this paper, we will see that the symplectic creed by Weinstein ‘everything is a Lagrangian submanifold’ also holds for Hamilton–Poincare and Lagrange–Poincare reduction. In fact, we show that solutions of the Hamilton–Poincare equations and of the Lagrange–Poincare equations are in one-to-one correspondence with distinguished curves in a Lagrangian submanifold of a symplectic manifold. For this purpose, we will combine the concept of a Tulczyjew triple with Marsden–Weinstein symplectic reduction.

The multiplier approach to the projective Finsler metrizability problem

Abstract This paper is concerned with the problem of determining whether a projective-equivalence class of sprays is the geodesic class of a Finsler function. We address both the local and the global aspects of this problem. We present our results entirely in terms of a multiplier, that is, a type ( 0 , 2 ) tensor field along the tangent bundle projection. In the course of the analysis we consider several related issues of interest including the positivity and strong convexity of positively-homogeneous functions, the relation to the so-called Rapcsak conditions, some peculiarities of the two-dimensional case, and geodesic convexity for sprays.

On the generalized Helmholtz conditions for Lagrangian systems with dissipative forces

In two recent papers necessary and sufficient conditions for a given system of second-order ordinary differential equations to be of Lagrangian form with additional dissipative forces were derived. We point out that these conditions are not independent and prove a stronger result accordingly.