We show that in general, the specification of a contact angle condition at the contact line in inviscid fluid motions is incompatible with the classical field equations and boundary conditions generally applicable to them. The limited conditions under which such a specification is permissible are derived; however, these include cases where the static meniscus is not flat. In view of this situation, the status of the many `solutions' in the literature which prescribe a contact angle in potential flows comes into question. We suggest that these solutions which attempt to incorporate a phenomenological, but incompatible, condition are in some, imprecise sense `weak-type solutions'; they satisfy or are likely to satisfy, at least in the limit, the governing equations and boundary conditions everywhere except in the neighbourhood of the contact line. We discuss the implications of the result for the analysis of inviscid flows with free surfaces.
We consider the zero heat conductivity limit to a contact discontinuity for the mono-dimensional full compressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier system. The method is based on the relative entropy method, and do not assume any smallness conditions on the discontinuity, nor on the $BV$ norm of the initial data. It is proved that for any viscosity $ν\geq0$, the solution of the compressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier system (with well prepared initial value) converges, when the heat conductivity $κ$ tends to zero, to the contact discontinuity solution to the corresponding Euler system. We obtain the decay rat…
We prove the existence of a subsonic axisymmetric weak solution $({\bf u},ρ,p)$ with ${\bf u}=u_x{\bf e}_x+u_r{\bf e}_r+u_θ{\bf e}_θ$ to steady Euler system in a three-dimensional infinitely long cylinder $\mathcal{N}$ when prescribing the values of the entropy $(=\frac{p}{ρ^γ})$ and angular momentum density $(=ru_θ)$ at the entrance by piecewise $C^2$ functions with a discontinuity on a curve on the entrance of $\mathcal{N}$. Due to the variable entropy and angular momentum density (=swirl) conditions with a discontinuity at the entrance, the corresponding solution has a nonzero vorticity, no…
We present a picture of Lagrangean mechanics, free of some unnatural features (such as complete divergences). As a byproduct, a completely natural U(1)-bundle over the phase space appears. The correspondence between classical and quantum mechanics is very clear, e.g. no topological ambiguities remain. Contact geometry is the basic tool.
We consider a class of time-dependent inclusions in Hilbert spaces for which we state and prove an existence and uniqueness result. The proof is based on arguments of variational inequalities, convex analysis and fixed point theory. Then we use this result to prove the unique weak solvability of a new class of Moreau's sweeping processes with constraints in velocity. Our results are useful in the study of mathematical models which describe the quasistatic evolution of deformable bodies in contact with an obstacle. To provide some examples we consider three viscoelastic contact problems which l…
In this work we introduce contact Hamiltonian mechanics, an extension of symplectic Hamiltonian mechanics, and show that it is a natural candidate for a geometric description of non-dissipative and dissipative systems. For this purpose we review in detail the major features of standard symplectic Hamiltonian dynamics and show that all of them can be generalized to the contact case.
Contact geometry allows to describe some thermodynamic and dissipative systems. In this paper we introduce a new geometric structure in order to describe time-dependent contact systems: cocontact manifolds. Within this setting we develop the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalisms, both in the regular and singular cases. In the singular case, we present a constraint algorithm aiming to find a submanifold where solutions exist. As a particular case we study contact systems with holonomic time-dependent constraints. Some regular and singular examples are analyzed, along with numerical simulations.
In this paper, we continue the construction of variational integrators adapted to contact geometry started in \cite{VBS}, in particular, we introduce a discrete Herglotz Principle and the corresponding discrete Herglotz Equations for a discrete Lagrangian in the contact setting. This allows us to develop convenient numerical integrators for contact Lagrangian systems that are conformally contact by construction. The existence of an exact Lagrangian function is also discussed.
We reexamine the relation between contact structures on supermanifolds and supersymmetric mechanics in the superspace formulation. This allows one to use the language of contact geometry when dealing with the d = 1, N = 2 super-Poincare algebra.
We present a complete theory of higher-order autonomous contact mechanics, which allows us to describe higher-order dynamical systems with dissipation. The essential tools for the theory are the extended higher-order tangent bundles, ${\rm T}^kQ\times{\mathbb R}$, whose geometric structures are previously introduced in order to state the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms for these kinds of systems, including their variational formulation. The variational principle, the contact forms, and the geometric dynamical equations are obtained by using those structures and generalizing the standard …
We consider a differential quasivariational inequality for which we state and prove the continuous dependence of the solution with respect to the data. This convergence result allows us to prove the existence of at least one optimal pair for an associated control problem. Finally, we illustrate our abstract results in the study of a free boundary problem which describes the equilibrium of a viscoelastic body in frictionless contact with a foundation made of a rigid body coveblack by a rigid-elastic layer.
Contact geometry has been applied to various mathematical sciences, and it has been proposed that a contact manifold and a strictly convex function induce a dually flat space that is used in information geometry. Here, such a dually flat space is related to a Legendre submanifold in a contact manifold. In this paper contact geometric descriptions of vector fields on dually flat spaces are proposed on the basis of the theory of contact Hamiltonian vector fields. Based on these descriptions, two ways of lifting vector fields on Legendre submanifolds to contact manifolds are given. For some class…
We introduce a general modeling framework to predict the outcomes, at the population level, of individual psychology and behavior. The framework prescribes that researchers build a cost function that embodies knowledge of what trait values (opinions, behaviors, etc.) are favored by individual interactions under given social conditions. Predictions at the population level are then drawn using methods from statistical mechanics, a branch of theoretical physics born to link the microscopic and macroscopic behavior of physical systems. We demonstrate our approach building a model of cultural conta…
Several dynamical systems of interest in celestial mechanics can be written in the form of a Newton equation with time-dependent damping, linear in the velocities. For instance, the modified Kepler problem, the spin-orbit model and the Lane-Emden equation all belong to such class. In this work we start an investigation of these models from the point of view of contact geometry. In particular we focus on the (contact) Hamiltonisation of these models and on the construction of the corresponding geometric integrators.
We study systems with parity invariant contact interactions in one dimension. The model analyzed is the simplest nontrivial one --- a quantum wire with a point defect --- and yet is shown to exhibit exotic phenomena, such as strong vs weak coupling duality and spiral anholonomy in the spectral flow. The structure underlying these phenomena is SU(2), which arises as accidental symmetry for a particular class of interactions.
Quantization together with quantum dynamics can be simultaneously formulated as the problem of finding an appropriate flat connection on a Hilbert bundle over a contact manifold. Contact geometry treats time, generalized positions and momenta as points on an underlying phase-spacetime and reduces classical mechanics to contact topology. Contact quantization describes quantum dynamics in terms of parallel transport for a flat connection; the ultimate goal being to also handle quantum systems in terms of contact topology. Our main result is a proof of local, formal gauge equivalence for a broad …
We present a generally covariant approach to quantum mechanics in which generalized positions, momenta and time variables are treated as coordinates on a fundamental "phase-spacetime." We show that this covariant starting point makes quantization into a purely geometric flatness condition. This makes quantum mechanics purely geometric, and possibly even topological. Our approach is especially useful for time-dependent problems and systems subject to ambiguities in choices of clock or observer. As a byproduct, we give a derivation and generalization of the Wigner functions of standard quantum m…
In this paper we study Hamiltonian systems on contact manifolds, which is an appropriate scenario to discuss dissipative systems. We prove a coisotropic reduction theorem similar to the one in symplectic mechanics.
Starting from the geometric description of quantum systems, we propose a novel approach to time-independet dissipative quantum processes according to which the energy is dissipated but the coherence of the states is preserved. Our proposal consists on extending the standard symplectic picture of quantum mechanics to a contact manifold and then obtaining dissipation using an appropriate contact Hamiltonian dynamics. We work out the case of finite-level systems, for which it is shown by means of the corresponding contact master equation that the resulting dynamics constitutes a viable alternativ…
