A Darboux theorem for Hamiltonian operators in the formal calculus of variations

Abstract

We prove a formal Darboux-type theorem for Hamiltonian operators of hydrodynamic type, which arise as dispersionless limits of the Hamiltonian operators in the KdV and similar hierarchies. We prove that the Schouten Lie algebra is a formal differential graded Lie algebra, which allows us to obtain an analogue of the Darboux normal form in this context. We include an exposition of the formal deformation theory of differential graded Lie algebras $\mathfrak {g}$ concentrated in degrees $[-1,\infty)$; the formal deformations of $\mathfrak {g}$ are parametrized by a 2-groupoid that we call the Deligne 2-groupoid of $\mathfrak {g}$, and quasi-isomorphic differential graded Lie algebras have equivalent Deligne 2-groupoids.