Constrained Hamiltonian Dynamics

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on autonomous geometrical mechanics, using the language of symplectic geometry. It discusses manifolds (including Kähler manifolds, Riemannian manifolds and Poisson manifolds), tangent bundles, cotangent bundles, vector fields, the Poincaré–Cartan 1-form and Darboux’s theorem. It covers symplectic transforms, the Marsden–Weinstein symplectic quotient, presymplectic and symplectic 2-forms, almost symplectic structures, symplectic leaves and foliation. It also discusses contact structures, musical isomorphisms and Arnold’s theorem, as well as integral invariants, Nambu structures, the Nambu bracket and the Lagrange bracket. It describes Poisson bi-vector fields, Poisson structures, the Lie–Poisson bracket and the Lie–Poisson reduction, as well as Lie algebra, the Lie bracket and Lie algebra homomorphisms. Other topics include Casimir functions, momentum maps, the Euler–Poincaré equation, fibre derivatives and the geodesic equation. The chapter concludes by looking at deformation quantisation of the Poisson algebra, using the Moyal bracket and C*-algebras to develop a quantum physics.