Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T13:28:08.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A generalization of the Liouville–Arnol'd theorem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

G. E. Prince
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
G. B. Byrnes
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
J. Sherring
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
S. E. Godfrey
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia

Abstract

We show that the Liouville-Arnol'd theorem concerning knowledge of involutory first integrals for Hamiltonian systems is available for any system of second order ordinary differential equations. In establishing this result we also provide a new proof of the standard theorem in the setting of non-autonomous, regular Lagrangian mechanics on the evolution space ℝ × TM of a manifold M. Both the original theorem and its generalization rely on a certain bijection between symmetries of the system and its first integrals. We give two examples of the use of the theorem for systems on ℝ2 which are not Euler-Lagrange.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Arnol'd., V. I.Mathematical methods of classical mechanics (Springer, Berlin, 1978).Google Scholar
[2]Blair., D. E.Contact manifolds in Riemannian geometry. Lecture Notes in Mathematics 509 (Springer, Berlin, 1976).Google Scholar
[3]Gartan., E.Leçons sur les invariants intégraux (Hermann, Paris, 1922).Google Scholar
[4]Crampin, M. and Pirani., F. A. E.Applicable differential geometry (Cambridge University Press, 1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Crampin, M., Prince, G. E. and Thompson., G.A geometric version of the Helmholtz conditions in time dependent Lagrangian dynamics. J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 17 (1984), 14371447.Google Scholar
[6]Douglas., J.Solution of the inverse problem of the calculus of variations. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 50, 71128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7]Eliashberg., Y. Contact 3-manifolds twenty years since J. Martinet's work. Preprint, Stanford University (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8]Gluck., H.Global theory of dynamical systems, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 819 (Springer, Berlin, 1980).Google Scholar
[9]Libermann, P. and Marle., C.-M.Symplectic geometry and analytical mechanics (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10]Liouville., J.Journal de Math. 20 (1855), 137.Google Scholar
[11]Sarlet, W., Prince, G. E. and Crampin., M.Adjoint symmetries for time dependent second order equations. J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 23 (1990), 13351347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[12]Sheering, J. and Prince., G. E.Geometric aspects of reduction of order. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 334 (1992), 433–53.Google Scholar
[13]Vaisman., I.Cohomology and differential forms (Marcel Dekker, 1973).Google Scholar