We present a geometric algorithm for obtaining consistent solutions to systems of partial differential equations, mainly arising from singular covariant first-order classical field theories. This algorithm gives an intrinsic description of all the constraint submanifolds.
The field equations are stated geometrically, either representing their solutions by integrable connections or, what is equivalent, by certain kinds of integrable m-vector fields. First, we consider the problem of finding connections or multivector fields solutions to the field equations in a general framework: a pre-multisymplectic fibre bundle (which will be identified with the first-order jet bundle and the multimomentum bundle when Lagrangian and Hamiltonian field theories are considered). Then, the problem is stated and solved in a linear context, and a pointwise application of the results leads to the algorithm for the general case. In a second step, the integrability of the solutions is also studied.
Finally, the method is applied to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian field theories and, for the former, the problem of finding holonomic solutions is also analized.
In this article we inspect the dynamics of classical field theories with a local conformal behavior. Our interest in the multisymplectic setting comes from its suitable description of field theories, and the conformal character has been added to account for field theories that are scale invariant, flat spaces, and because some conformal fields can be exactly solved or classified. In particular, we will solve the example of a conformal scalar field using the geometric Hamilton-Jacobi theory that is explicitly proposed for conformal fields on a multisymplectic manifold. To complete the geometric…
We state a unified geometrical version of the variational principles for second-order classical field theories. The standard Lagrangian and Hamiltonian variational principles and the corresponding field equations are recovered from this unified framework.
The geometric framework for the Hamilton-Jacobi theory developed in previous works is extended for multisymplectic first-order classical field theories. The Hamilton-Jacobi problem is stated for the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian formalisms of these theories as a particular case of a more general problem, and the classical Hamilton-Jacobi equation for field theories is recovered from this geometrical setting. Particular and complete solutions to these problems are defined and characterized in several equivalent ways in both formalisms, and the equivalence between them is proved. The use of dis…
We present a new multisymplectic framework for second-order classical field theories which is based on an extension of the unified Lagrangian-Hamiltonian formalism to these kinds of systems. This model provides a straightforward and simple way to define the Poincaré-Cartan form and clarifies the construction of the Legendre map (univocally obtained as a consequence of the constraint algorithm). Likewise, it removes the undesirable arbitrariness in the solutions to the field equations, which are analyzed in-depth, and written in terms of holonomic sections and multivector fields. Our treatment …
Symmetries and, in particular, Cartan (Noether) symmetries and conserved quantities (conservation laws) are studied for the multisymplectic formulation of first and second order Lagrangian classical field theories. Noether-type theorems are stated in this geometric framework. The concept of gauge symmetry and its geometrical meaning are also discussed in this formulation. The results are applied to study Noether and gauge symmetries for the multisymplectic description of the electromagnetic and the gravitational theory; in particular, the Einstein--Hilbert and the Einstein--Palatini approaches…
The (pre)multisymplectic geometry of the De Donder--Weyl formalism for field theories is further developed for a variety of field theories including a scalar field theory from the canonical Klein-Gordon action, the electric and magnetic Carrollian scalar field theories, bosonic string theory from the Nambu-Goto action, and $2+1$ gravity as a Chern-Simons theory. The Lagrangians for the scalar field theories and for $2+1$ Chern-Simons gravity are found to be singular in the De Donder--Weyl sense while the Nambu-Goto Lagrangian is found to be regular. Furthermore, the constraint structure of the…
This work provides a general overview for the treatment of symmetries in classical field theories and (pre)multisymplectic geometry. The geometric characteristics of the relation between how symmetries are interpreted in theoretical physics and in the geometric formulation of these theories are clarified. Finally, a general discussion is given on the structure of symmetries in the presence of constraints appearing in singular field theories. Symmetries of some typical theories in theoretical physics are analyzed through the construction of the relevant multimomentum maps which are the conserve…
The problem of reduction of multisymplectic manifolds by the action of Lie groups is stated and discussed, as a previous step to give a fully covariant scheme of reduction for classical field theories with symmetries.
We use the kernel of a premultisymplecic form to classify its solutions, inspired by the work of M. Gotay and J. Nester. In the case of variational premultisymplectic forms, there is an equivalence relation which classify the solutions in general distributions called expanded solutions. We also present an equivalence relation for sections and a reduction procedure for the system. We apply this results to mechanics, electromagnetism and Metric-Affine gravity, and compare them with other notions of gauge freedom.
Recently, M. de León el al. ([8]) have developed a geometrical description of Hamilton-Jacobi theory for multisymplectic field theory. In our paper we analyse in the same spirit a special kind of field theories which are gauge field theories. The Hamilton-Jacobi theory for this kind of fields is shown.
This book is devoted to review two of the most relevant approaches to the study of classical field theories of first order, say k-symplectic and k-cosymplectic. In the last part, we relate the k-symplectic and k-cosymplectic manifolds with the multisymplectic theory.
The transfer matrix in lattice field theory connects the covariant and the initial data frameworks; in spin foam models, it can be written as a composition of elementary cellular amplitudes/propagators. We present a framework for discrete spacetime classical field theory in which solutions to the field equations over elementary spacetime cells may be amalgamated if they satisfy simple gluing conditions matching the composition rules of cellular amplitudes in spin foam models. Furthermore, the formalism is endowed with a multisymplectic structure responsible for local conservation laws. Some mo…
We continue our study of zero-dimensional field theories in which the fields take values in a strong homotopy Lie algebra. In a first part, we review in detail how higher Chern-Simons theories arise in the AKSZ-formalism. These theories form a universal starting point for the construction of $L_\infty$-algebra models. We then show how to describe superconformal field theories and how to perform dimensional reductions in this context. In a second part, we demonstrate that Nambu-Poisson and multisymplectic manifolds are closely related via their Heisenberg algebras. As a byproduct of our discuss…
Field Theories in Physics can be formulated giving a local Lagrangian density. Locality is imposed using the infinite jet bundle. That bundle is viewed as a pro-finite dimensional smooth manifold and that point of view has been compared to different topological and Frechét structures on it. A category of local (insular) manifolds has been constructed. Noether's second theorem is reviewed and the notion of Lie pseudogroups is explored using these concepts. The L-infinity algebra of local observables is defined depending only on the cohomology of the Lagrangian (using a result in multisymplectic…
Ideas from the theory of multisymplectic systems, introduced recently in integrable systems by the author and Kundu to discuss Liouville integrability in classical field theories with a defect, are applied to the sine-Gordon model. The key ingredient is the introduction of a second Poisson bracket in the theory that allows for a Hamiltonian description of the model that is completely equivalent to the standard one, in the absence of a defect. In the presence of a defect described by frozen Bäcklund transformations, our approach based on the new bracket unifies the various tools used so far to …
We present a multisymplectic formulation of the Yang--Mills equations. The connections are represented by normalized equivariant 1-forms on the total space of a principal bundle, with values in a Lie algebra. Within the multisymplectic framework we realize that, under reasonable hypotheses, it is not necessary to assume the equivariance condition a priori, since this condition is a consequence of the dynamical equations.
A novel reduction procedure for covariant classical field theories, reflecting the generalized symplectic reduction theory of Hamiltonian systems, is presented. The departure point of this reduction procedure consists in the choice of a submanifold of the manifold of solutions of the equations describing a field theory. Then, the covariance of the geometrical objects involved, will allow to define equations of motion on a reduced space. The computation of the canonical geometrical structure is performed neatly by using the geometrical framework provided by the multisymplectic description of co…
The multisymplectic formalism of field theories developed by many mathematicians over the last fifty years is extended in this work to deal with manifolds that have boundaries. In particular, we develop a multisymplectic framework for first order covariant Hamiltonian field theories on manifolds with boundaries. This work is a geometric fulfillment of Fock's characterization of field theories as it appears in recent work by Cattaneo, Mnev and Reshetikhin [Ca14]. This framework leads to a true geometric understanding of conventional choices for boundary conditions. For example, the boundary con…
We present a covariant multisymplectic formulation for the Einstein-Hilbert model of General Relativity. As it is described by a second-order singular Lagrangian, this is a gauge field theory with constraints. The use of the unified Lagrangian-Hamiltonian formalism is particularly interesting when it is applied to these kinds of theories, since it simplifies the treatment of them; in particular, the implementation of the constraint algorithm, the retrieval of the Lagrangian description, and the construction of the covariant Hamiltonian formalism. In order to apply this algorithm to the covaria…
We introduce a notion of a homotopy momentum section on a Lie algebroid over a pre-multisymplectic manifold. A homotopy momentum section is a generalization of the momentum map with a Lie group action and the momentum section on a pre-symplectic manifold, and is also regarded as a generalization of the homotopy momentum map on a multisymplectic manifold. We show that a gauged nonlinear sigma model with Wess-Zumino term with Lie algebroid gauging has the homotopy momentum section structure.
