We present a unified geometric framework for describing both the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms of regular and non-regular time-dependent mechanical systems, which is based on the approach of Skinner and Rusk (1983). The dynamical equations of motion and their compatibility and consistency are carefully studied, making clear that all the characteristics of the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian formalisms are recovered in this formulation. As an example, it is studied a semidiscretization of the nonlinear wave equation proving the applicability of the proposed formalism.
Recently a path integral formalism has been proposed by the author which gives the time evolution of moments of slow variables in a Hamiltonian statistical system. This closure relies on evaluating the informational discrepancy of a time sequence (path) of approximating densities from the Liouvillian evolution that an exact density must follow. The discrepancy is then used to weight all possible paths using a generalized Boltzmann principle. That formalism is extended here to deal with more general and realistic autonomous dynamical systems. There the divergence of the time derivative of dynam…
The Lagrangian-Hamiltonian unified formalism of R. Skinner and R. Rusk was originally stated for autonomous dynamical systems in classical mechanics. It has been generalized for non-autonomous first-order mechanical systems, as well as for first-order and higher-order field theories. However, a complete generalization to higher-order mechanical systems has yet to be described. In this work, after reviewing the natural geometrical setting and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms for higher-order autonomous mechanical systems, we develop a complete generalization of the Lagrangian-Hamiltoni…
This work is devoted to giving a geometric framework for describing higher-order non-autonomous mechanical systems. The starting point is to extend the Lagrangian-Hamiltonian unified formalism of Skinner and Rusk for these kinds of systems, generalizing previous developments for higher-order autonomous mechanical systems and first-order non-autonomous mechanical systems. Then, we use this unified formulation to derive the standard Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms, including the Legendre-Ostrogradsky map and the Euler-Lagrange and the Hamilton equations, both for regular and singular syste…
In this paper we present a unified Lagrangian--Hamiltonian geometric formalism to describe time-dependent contact mechanical systems, based on the one first introduced by K. Kamimura and later formalized by R. Skinner and R. Rusk. This formalism is especially interesting when dealing with systems described by singular Lagrangians, since the second-order condition is recovered from the constraint algorithm. In order to illustrate this formulation, some relevant examples are described in full detail: the Duffing equation, an ascending particle with time-dependent mass and quadratic drag, and a c…
The objective of this work is twofold: First, we analyze the relation between the k-cosymplectic and the k-symplectic Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalisms in classical field theories. In particular, we prove the equivalence between k-symplectic field theories and the so-called autonomous k-cosymplectic field theories, extending in this way the description of the symplectic formalism of autonomous systems as a particular case of the cosymplectic formalism in non-autonomous mechanics. Furthermore, we clarify some aspects of the geometric character of the solutions to the Hamilton-de Donder-Weyl…
We provide new insights into the contact Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulations of dissipative mechanical systems. In particular, we state a new form of the contact dynamical equations, and we review two recently presented Lagrangian formalisms, studying their equivalence. We define several kinds of symmetries for contact dynamical systems, as well as the notion of dissipation laws, prove a dissipation theorem and give a way to construct conserved quantities. Some well-known examples of dissipative systems are discussed.
The geometric framework for the Hamilton-Jacobi theory is used to study this theory in the ambient of higher-order mechanical systems, both in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. Thus, we state the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi equations in these formalisms and apply our results to analyze some particular physical examples.
In this paper, we introduce a geometric description of contact Lagrangian and Hamiltonian systems on Lie algebroids in the framework of contact geometry, using the theory of prolongations. We discuss the relation between Lagrangian and Hamiltonian settings through a convenient notion of Legendre transformation. We also discuss the Hamilton-Jacobi problem in this framework and introduce the notion of a Legendrian Lie subalgebroid of a contact Lie algebroid.
Many physically important mechanical systems may be described with a Lie group $G$ as configuration space. According to the well-known Noether's theorem, underlying symmetries of the Lie group may be used to considerably reduce the complexity of the problems. However, these reduction techniques, used without care for general problems (waves, field theory), may lead to uncomfortable infinite dimensional spaces. As an alternative, the \emph{covariant} formulation allows to consider a finite dimensional configuration space by increasing the number of independent variables. But the geometric eleme…
The aim of this work is to study fiber derivatives associated to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian functions describing the dynamics of a higher-order autonomous dynamical system. More precisely, given a function in $T^*T^{(k-1)}Q$, we find necessary and sufficient conditions for such a function to describe the dynamics of a kth-order autonomous dynamical system, thus being a kth-order Hamiltonian function. Then, we give a suitable definition of (hyper)regularity for these higher-order Hamiltonian functions in terms of their fiber derivative. In addition, we also study an alternative characterization…
For system of two ordinary differential equations of the second order representing autonomous non-conservative holonomic mechanical system, in case of dynamics such as one-frequency periodical oscillations, is found integrated invariant of movement.
In this paper, the geometric approach to the virial theorem developed in \cite{CFR12} is written in terms of quasi-velocities (see \cite{CNCS07}). A generalization of the virial theorem for mechanical systems on Lie algebroids is also given, using the geometric tools of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics on the prolongation of the Lie algebroid.
In this paper, we consider a geometric formalism for optimal control of underactuated mechanical systems. Our techniques are an adaptation of the classical Skinner and Rusk approach for the case of Lagrangian dynamics with higher-order constraints. We study a regular case where it is possible to establish a symplectic framework and, as a consequence, to obtain a unique vector field determining the dynamics of the optimal control problem. These developments will allow us to develop a new class of geometric integrators based on discrete variational calculus.
The inverse problem of the calculus of variations consists in determining if the solutions of a given system of second order differential equations correspond with the solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations for some regular Lagrangian. This problem in the general version remains unsolved. Here, we contribute to it with a novel description in terms of Lagrangian submanifolds of a symplectic manifold, also valid under some adaptation for the non-autonomous version. One of the advantages of this new point of view is that we can easily extend our description to the study of the inverse problem …
The geometric formulation of the Hamilton-Jacobi theory enables us to generalize it to systems of higher-order ordinary differential equations. In this work we introduce the unified Lagrangian-Hamiltonian formalism for the geometric Hamilton-Jacobi theory on higher-order autonomous dynamical systems described by regular Lagrangian functions.
We present a unified geometric framework for describing both the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms of contact autonomous mechanical systems, which is based on the approach of the pionnering work of R. Skinner and R. Rusk. This framework permits to skip the second order differential equation problem, which is obtained as a part of the constraint algorithm (for singular or regular Lagrangians), and is specially useful to describe singular Lagrangian systems. Some examples are also discussed to illustrate the method.
A complete geometric classification of symmetries of autonomous Hamiltonian mechanical systems is established; explaining how to obtain their associated conserved quantities in all cases. In particular, first we review well-known results and properties about the symmetries of the Hamiltonian and of the symplectic form and then some new kinds of non-symplectic symmetries and their conserved quantities are introduced and studied.
his paper reviews modern geometrical dynamics and control of humanoid robots. This general Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism starts with a proper definition of humanoid's configuration manifold, which is a set of all robot's active joint angles. Based on the `covariant force law', the general humanoid's dynamics and control are developed. Autonomous Lagrangian dynamics is formulated on the associated `humanoid velocity phase space', while autonomous Hamiltonian dynamics is formulated on the associated `humanoid momentum phase space'. Neural-like hierarchical humanoid control naturally follo…
This review paper is devoted to presenting the standard multisymplectic formulation for describing geometrically classical field theories, both the regular and singular cases. First, the main features of the Lagrangian formalism are revisited and, second, the Hamiltonian formalism is constructed using Hamiltonian sections. In both cases, the variational principles leading to the Euler-Lagrange and the Hamilton-De Donder-Weyl equations, respectively, are stated, and these field equations are given in different but equivalent geometrical ways in each formalism. Finally, both are unified in a new…
With the use of the general covariant matrix 10-dimensional Petiau -- Duffin -- Kemmer formalism in cylindrical coordinates and tetrad there are constructed exact solutions of the quantum-mechanical equation for a particle with spin 1 in presence of an external homogeneous magnetic field. There are separated three linearly independent types of solutions; in each case the formula for energy levels has been found.
Many important theories in modern physics can be stated using differential geometry. Symplectic geometry is the natural framework to deal with autonomous Hamiltonian mechanics. This admits several generalizations for nonautonomous systems, both regular and singular. Some of these extensions are the subject of this thesis. Recently there has been a growing interest in studying dissipative mechanical systems from a geometric perspective using contact geometry. In this thesis we review what has been done in this topic and go deeper, studying symmetries and dissipated quantities of contact systems…
The Rusk-Skinner formalism was developed in order to give a geometrical unified formalism for describing mechanical systems. It incorporates all the characteristics of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian descriptions of these systems (including dynamical equations and solutions, constraints, Legendre map, evolution operators, equivalence, etc.). In this work we extend this unified framework to first-order classical field theories, and show how this description comprises the main features of the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms, both for the regular and singular cases. This formulation is a first s…
In this paper we study a class of physical systems that combine a finite number of mechanical and thermodynamic observables. We call them finite dimensional thermo-mechanical systems. We introduce these systems by means of simple examples. The evolution equations of the involved observables are obtained in each example by using, essentially, the Newton's law and the First Law of Thermodynamics only. We show that such equations are similar to those defining certain mechanical systems with higher order constraints. Moreover, we show that all of the given examples can be described in a variationa…
A solution for the Weinstein's Problem in the general framework of generalized Lie algebroids is the target of this paper. We present the mechanical systems called by use, mechanical (?; ?)-systems, Lagrange mechanical (?; ?)-systems or Finsler mechanical (?; ?)-systems and we develop their geometries. We obtain the canonical (?; ?)-semi(spray) associated to a mechanical (?; ?)-system. The Lagrange mechanical (?; ?)-systems are the spaces necessary to develop a Lagrangian formalism. We obtain the (?; ?)-semispray associated to a regular Lagrangian L and external force Fe and we derive the equa…
With the use of the general covariant matrix 10-dimensional Petiau-Duffin-Kemmer formalism in cylindrical coordinates exact solutions of the quantum-mechanical equation for a particle with spin 1 in the presence of an external homogeneous magnetic field are constructed. Three linearly independent types of solutions are separated; in each case the formula for the energy levels has been found.Within similar technique for the quantum-mechanical equation for a particle with spin 1 and additional intrinsic electromagnetic characteristics - polarizability, exact solutions are found in the presence o…
We consider an unpinned chain of harmonic oscillators with periodic boundary conditions, whose dynamics is perturbed by a random flip of the sign of the velocities. The dynamics conserves the total volume (or elongation) and the total energy of the system. We prove that in a diffusive space-time scaling limit the profiles corresponding to the two conserved quantities converge to the solution of a diffusive system of differential equations. While the elongation follows a simple autonomous linear diffusive equation, the evolution of the energy depends on the gradient of the square of the elongat…
We present an integrable Hamiltonian which describes the sinh-Gordon model on the half line coupled to a non-linear oscillator at the boundary. We explain how we apply Sklyanin's formalism to a dynamical reflection matrix to obtain this model. This method can be applied to couple other integrable field theories to dynamical systems at the boundary. We also show how to find the dynamical solution of the quantum reflection equation corresponding to our particular example.
A new description, different by the classical theory of Hamiltonian Mechanics, in the general framework of generalized Lie algebroids is presented. In the particular case of Lie algebroids, new and important results are obtained. We present the \emph{dual mechanical systems} called by use, \emph{dual mechanical}$(ρ,η) $\emph{-systems, Hamilton mechanical}$(ρ,η) $\emph{-systems} or \emph{% Cartan mechanical}$(ρ,η) $\emph{-systems.} and we develop their geometries. We obtain the canonical $(ρ,η) $\emph{-}semi(spray) associated to a dual mechanical $(ρ,η) $-system. The Hamilton mechanical $(ρ,η)$…
We devise a generalisation of the energy momentum-method for studying the stability of non-autonomous Hamiltonian systems with a Lie group of Hamiltonian symmetries. A generalisation of the relative equilibrium point notion to a non-autonomous realm is provided and studied. Relative equilibrium points of non-autonomous Hamiltonian systems are described via foliated Lie systems, which opens a new field of application of such differential equations. We reduce non-autonomous Hamiltonian systems via the Marsden-Weinstein theorem and we provide conditions ensuring the stability of the projection of…
We introduce the confluent version of the quantum-mechanical supersymmetry (SUSY) formalism for the Dirac equation with a pseudoscalar potential. Application of the formalism to spectral problems is discussed, regularity conditions for the transformed potentials are derived, and normalizability of the transformed solutions is established. Our findings extend and complement former results.
Optimal control problems for underactuated mechanical systems can be seen as a higher-order variational problem subject to higher-order constraints (that is, when the Lagrangian function and the constraints depend on higher-order derivatives such as the acceleration, jerk or jounces). In this paper we discuss the variational formalism for the class of underactuated mechanical control systems when the configuration space is a trivial principal bundle and the construction of variational integrators for such mechanical control systems. An interesting family of geometric integrators can be defined…
