Lagrangian systems with nonholonomic constraints may be considered as singular differential equations defined by some constraints and some multipliers. The geometry, solutions, symmetries and constants of motion of such equations are studied within the framework of linearly singular differential equations. Some examples are given; in particular the well-known singular lagrangian of the relativistic particle, which with the nonholonomic constraint v^2=c^2 yields a regular system.
The developments in this paper are concerned with nonholonomic field theories in the presence of symmetries. Having previously treated the case of vertical symmetries, we now deal with the case where the symmetry action can also have a horizontal component. As a first step in this direction, we derive a new and convenient form of the field equations of a nonholonomic field theory. Nonholonomic symmetries are then introduced as symmetry generators whose virtual work is zero along the constraint submanifold, and we show that for every such symmetry, there exists a so-called momentum equation, de…
In this paper, we consider the hamiltonian formulation of nonholonomic systems with symmetries and study several aspects of the geometry of their reduced almost Poisson brackets, including the integrability of their characteristic distributions. Our starting point is establishing global formulas for the nonholonomic Jacobiators, before and after reduction, which are used to clarify the relationship between reduced nonholonomic brackets and twisted Poisson structures. For certain types of symmetries (generalizing the Chaplygin case), we obtain genuine Poisson structures on the reduced spaces an…
We consider nonholonomic systems which symmetry groups consist of two subgroups one of which represents rotations about the axis of symmetry. After nonholonomic reduction by another subgroup the corresponding vector fields on partially reduced phase space are linear combinations of the Hamiltonian and symmetry vector fields. The reduction of the Poisson bivectors associated with the Hamiltonian vector fields to canonical form is discussed.
We consider Noether symmetries of the equations defined by the sections of characteristic line bundles of nondegenerate 1-forms and of the associated perturbed systems. It appears that this framework can be used for time-dependent systems with constraints and nonconservative forces, allowing a quite simple and transparent formulation of the momentum equation and the Noether theorem in their general forms.
In nonholonomic mechanics, the presence of constraints in the velocities breaks the well-under\-stood link between symmetries and first integrals of holonomic systems, expressed in Noether's Theorem. However there is a known special class of first integrals of nonholonomic systems generated by vector fields tangent to the group orbits, called {\it horizontal gauge momenta}, that suggest that some version of this link should still hold. In this paper we prove that, under certain conditions on the symmetry Lie group, the (nonholonomic) momentum map is conserved along the nonholonomic dynamics, t…
A $k$-symplectic framework for classical field theories subject to nonholonomic constraints is presented. If the constrained problem is regular one can construct a projection operator such that the solutions of the constrained problem are obtained by projecting the solutions of the free problem. Symmetries for the nonholonomic system are introduced and we show that for every such symmetry, there exist a nonholonomic momentum equation. The proposed formalism permits to introduce in a simple way many tools of nonholonomic mechanics to nonholonomic field theories.
In this paper we address the problem of identifying contracting systems among dynamical systems appearing in mechanics. First, we introduce a sufficient condition to identify contracting systems in a general Riemannian manifold. Then, we apply this technique to establish that a particular type of dissipative forced mechanical system is contracting, while stating immediate consequences of this fact for the stability of these systems. Finally, we use the previous results to study the stability of particular types of Contact and Nonholonomic systems.
We study the existence of first integrals in nonholonomic systems with symmetry. First we define the concept of $\mathcal{M}$-cotangent lift of a vector field on a manifold $Q$ in order to unify the works [Balseiro P., Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 214 (2014), 453-501, arXiv:1301.1091], [Fassò F., Ramos A., Sansonetto N., Regul. Chaotic Dyn. 12 (2007), 579-588], and [Fassò F., Giacobbe A., Sansonetto N., Rep. Math. Phys. 62 (2008), 345-367]. Second, we study gauge symmetries and gauge momenta, in the cases in which there are the symmetries that satisfy the so-called vertical symmetry condition. Un…
This paper presents a reduction procedure for nonholonomic systems admitting suitable types of symmetries and conserved quantities. The full procedure contains two steps. The first (simple) step results in a Chaplygin system, described by an almost symplectic structure, carrying additional symmetries. The focus of this paper is on the second step, which consists of a Marsden-Weinstein--type reduction that generalizes constructions in [4,17]. The almost symplectic manifolds obtained in the second step are proven to coincide with the leaves of the reduced nonholonomic brackets defined in [7]. We…
Nonholonomic mechanical systems have been attracting more interest in recent years because of their rich geometric properties and their applications in Engineering. In all generality, we discuss the reduction of a Hamilton-Jacobi theory for systems subject to nonholonomic constraints and that are invariant under the action of a group of symmetries. We consider nonholonomic systems subject to linear or nonlinear constraints, with different positioning with respect to the symmetries. We describe the reduction procedure first, to later reconstruct solutions in the unreduced picture, by starting f…
Let $\mathbf{g}$ be a pseudo--Riemanian metric of arbitrary signature on a manifold $\mathbf{V}$ with conventional $n+n$ dimensional splitting, $\ n\geq 2,$ determined by a nonholonomic (non--integrable) distribution $\mathcal{N}$ defining a generalized (nonlinear) connection and associated nonholonomic frame structures. We shall work with a correspondingly adapted linear metric compatible connection $\hat{\mathbf{D}}$ and its nonzero torsion $\hat{\mathcal{T}}$, both completely determined by $\mathbf{g}$. Our first goal is to prove that there are certain generalized frame and/or jet transform…
In this paper we study the problem of Hamiltonization of nonholonomic systems from a geometric point of view. We use gauge transformations by 2-forms (in the sense of Severa and Weinstein [29]) to construct different almost Poisson structures describing the same nonholonomic system. In the presence of symmetries, we observe that these almost Poisson structures, although gauge related, may have fundamentally different properties after reduction, and that brackets that Hamiltonize the problem may be found within this family. We illustrate this framework with the example of rigid bodies with gene…
This paper presents a geometric description of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian systems on Lie affgebroids subject to affine nonholonomic constraints. We define the notion of nonholonomically constrained system, and characterize regularity conditions that guarantee that the dynamics of the system can be obtained as a suitable projection of the unconstrained dynamics. It is shown that one can define an almost aff-Poisson bracket on the constraint AV-bundle, which plays a prominent role in the description of nonholonomic dynamics. Moreover, these developments give a general description of nonholonomic…
In this article we consider nonholonomic deformations of disk solutions in general relativity to generic off-diagonal metrics defining knew classes of exact solutions in 4D and 5D gravity. These solutions possess Lie algebroid symmetries and local anisotropy and define certain generalizations of manifolds with Killing and/ or Lie algebra symmetries. For Lie algebroids, there are structures functions depending on variables on a base submanifold and it is possible to work with singular structures defined by the 'anchor' map. This results in a number of new physical implications comparing with th…
This paper deals with conservation laws for mechanical systems with nonholonomic constraints. It uses a Lagrangian formulation of nonholonomic systems and a Cartan form approach. We present what we believe to be the most general relations between symmetries and first integrals. We discuss the so-called nonholonomic Noether theorem in terms of our formalism, and we give applications to Riemannian submanifolds, to Lagrangians of mechanical type, and to the determination of quadratic first integrals.
The purpose of this paper is to show that, at least for Lagrangians of mechanical type, nonholonomic Euler-Lagrange equations for a nonholonomic linear constraint D may be viewed as non-constrained Euler-Lagrange equations but on a new (generally not Lie) algebroid structure on D. The proposed novel formalism allows us to treat in a unified way a variety of situations in nonholonomic mechanics and gives rise to a version of Neoether Theorem producing actual first integrals in case of symmetries.
We prove the existence of hidden symmetries in the general relativity theory defined by exact solutions with generic off-diagonal metrics, nonholonomic (non-integrable) constraints, and deformations of the frame and linear connection structure. A special role in characterization of such spacetimes is played by the corresponding nonholonomic generalizations of Stackel-Killing and Killing-Yano tensors. There are constructed new classes of black hole solutions and studied hidden symmetries for ellipsoidal and/or solitonic deformations of "prime" Kerr-Sen black holes into "target" off-diagonal met…
In this paper, we study the underlying geometry in the classical Hamilton-Jacobi equation. The proposed formalism is also valid for nonholonomic systems. We first introduce the essential geometric ingredients: a vector bundle, a linear almost Poisson structure and a Hamiltonian function, both on the dual bundle (a Hamiltonian system). From them, it is possible to formulate the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, obtaining as a particular case, the classical theory. The main application in this paper is to nonholonomic mechanical systems. For it, we first construct the linear almost Poisson structure on …
We extend Hamilton-Jacobi theory to Lagrange-Dirac (or implicit Lagrangian) systems, a generalized formulation of Lagrangian mechanics that can incorporate degenerate Lagrangians as well as holonomic and nonholonomic constraints. We refer to the generalized Hamilton-Jacobi equation as the Dirac-Hamilton-Jacobi equation. For non-degenerate Lagrangian systems with nonholonomic constraints, the theory specializes to the recently developed nonholonomic Hamilton-Jacobi theory. We are particularly interested in applications to a certain class of degenerate nonholonomic Lagrangian systems with symmet…
This paper presents a geometric description on Lie algebroids of Lagrangian systems subject to nonholonomic constraints. The Lie algebroid framework provides a natural generalization of classical tangent bundle geometry. We define the notion of nonholonomically constrained system, and characterize regularity conditions that guarantee the dynamics of the system can be obtained as a suitable projection of the unconstrained dynamics. The proposed novel formalism provides new insights into the geometry of nonholonomic systems, and allows us to treat in a unified way a variety of situations, includ…
In spite of its long history and classical character which goes back even to d'Alembert and Lagrange, the problems of constraints in mechanics of continua is still mysterious and full of misunderstandings. Let us mention the problem of difference between special solutions of unconstrained systems and constraints dynamics, holonomic and nonholonomic constrained, various versions of so-called vakonomy, sub-Riemannian structures, servoconstraints, and programme motion. There are some strange confusions between field theory and mechanics of continua; many problems call for conceptual cleaning, alt…
In this paper, we describe a constrained Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism for the optimal control of nonholonomic mechanical systems. In particular, we aim to minimize a cost functional, given initial and final conditions where the controlled dynamics is given by nonholonomic mechanical system. In our paper, the controlled equations are derived using a basis of vector fields adapted to the nonholonomic distribution and the Riemannian metric determined by the kinetic energy. Given a cost function, the optimal control problem is understood as a constrained problem or equivalently, under some…
Discretizing variational principles, as opposed to discretizing differential equations, leads to discrete-time analogues of mechanics, and, systematically, to geometric numerical integrators. The phase space of such variational discretizations is often the set of configuration pairs, analogously corresponding to initial and terminal points of a tangent vectors. We develop alternative discrete analogues of tangent bundles, by extending tangent vectors to finite curve segments, one curve segment for each tangent vector. Towards flexible, high order numerical integrators, we use these discrete ta…
A new notion of stochastic transformation is proposed and applied to the study of both weak and strong symmetries of stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The correspondence between an algebra of weak symmetries for a given SDE and an algebra of strong symmetries for a modified SDE is proved under suitable regularity assumptions. This general approach is applied to a stochastic version of a two dimensional symmetric ordinary differential equation and to the case of two dimensional Brownian motion.
We study solutions of the KdV equation governed by a stationary equation for symmetries from the non-commutative subalgebra, namely, for a linear combination of the master-symmetry and the scaling symmetry. The constraint under study is equivalent to a sixth order nonautonomous ODE possessing two first integrals. Its generic solutions have a singularity on the line $t=0$. The regularity condition selects a 3-parameter family of solutions which describe oscillations near $u=1$ and satisfy, for $t=0$, an equation equivalent to degenerate $P_5$ equation. Numerical experiments show that in this fa…
We establish a version of the first Noether Theorem, according to which the (equivalence classes of) conserved quantities of given Euler-Lagrange equations in several independent variables are in one-to-one correspondence with the (equivalence classes of) vector fields satisfying an appropriate pair of geometric conditions, namely: (a) they preserve the class of vector fields tangent to holonomic submanifolds of a jet space; (b) they leave invariant the action, from which the Euler-Lagrange equations are derived, modulo terms identically vanishing along holonomic submanifolds. Such corresponde…
