Global Action-angle Coordinates Research Articles

Hamiltonian Monodromy via spectral Lax pairs

Hamiltonian Monodromy is the simplest topological obstruction to the existence of global action-angle coordinates in a completely integrable system. We show that this property can be studied in a neighborhood of a focus-focus singularity by a spectral Lax pair approach. From the Lax pair, we derive a Riemann surface which allows us to compute in a straightforward way the corresponding Monodromy matrix. The general results are applied to the Jaynes–Cummings model and the spherical pendulum.

Concentration of symplectic volumes on Poisson homogeneous spaces

For a compact Poisson-Lie group $K$, the homogeneous space $K/T$ carries a family of symplectic forms $\omega_\xi^s$, where $\xi \in \mathfrak{t}^*_+$ is in the positive Weyl chamber and $s \in \mathbb{R}$. The symplectic form $\omega_\xi^0$ is identified with the natural $K$-invariant symplectic form on the $K$ coadjoint orbit corresponding to $\xi$. The cohomology class of $\omega_\xi^s$ is independent of $s$ for a fixed value of $\xi$. In this paper, we show that as $s\to -\infty$, the symplectic volume of $\omega_\xi^s$ concentrates in arbitrarily small neighbourhoods of the smallest Schubert cell in $K/T \cong G/B$. This strengthens earlier results [9,10] and is a step towards a conjectured construction of global action-angle coordinates on $Lie(K)^*$ [4, Conjecture 1.1].

Spectral monodromy of non-self-adjoint operators

In the present paper, we build a combinatorial invariant, called the “spectral monodromy” from the spectrum of a single (non-self-adjoint) h-pseudodifferential operator with two degrees of freedom in the semi-classical limit. Our inspiration comes from the quantum monodromy defined for the joint spectrum of an integrable system of n commuting self-adjoint h-pseudodifferential operators, given by S. Vu Ngoc [“Quantum monodromy in integrable systems,” Commun. Math. Phys. 203(2), 465–479 (1999)]. The first simple case that we treat in this work is a normal operator. In this case, the discrete spectrum can be identified with the joint spectrum of an integrable quantum system. The second more complex case we propose is a small perturbation of a self-adjoint operator with a classical integrability property. We show that the discrete spectrum (in a small band around the real axis) also has a combinatorial monodromy. The main difficulty in this case is that we do not know the description of the spectrum everywhere, but only in a Cantor type set. In addition, we also show that the corresponding monodromy can be identified with the classical monodromy, defined by J. Duistermaat [“On global action-angle coordinates,” Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 33(6), 687–706 (1980)].

Uncovering Fractional Monodromy

The uncovering of the role of monodromy in integrable Hamiltonian fibrations has been one of the major advances in the study of integrable Hamiltonian systems in the past few decades: on one hand monodromy turned out to be the most fundamental obstruction to the existence of global action-angle coordinates while, on the other hand, it provided the correct classical analogue for the interpretation of the structure of quantum joint spectra. Fractional monodromy is a generalization of the concept of monodromy: instead of restricting our attention to the toric part of the fibration we extend our scope to also consider singular fibres. In this paper we analyze fractional monodromy for n1:(−n2) resonant Hamiltonian systems with n1, n2 coprime natural numbers. We consider, in particular, systems that for n1, n2 > 1 contain one-parameter families of singular fibres which are ‘curled tori’. We simplify the geometry of the fibration by passing to an appropriate branched covering. In the branched covering the curled tori and their neighborhood become untwisted thus simplifying the geometry of the fibration: we essentially obtain the same type of generalized monodromy independently of n1, n2. Fractional monodromy is then recovered by pushing the results obtained in the branched covering back to the original system.

Fractional monodromy: parallel transport of homology cycles

A 2 n-dimensional completely integrable system gives rise to a singular fibration whose generic fiber is the n-torus T n . In the classical setting, it is possible to define a parallel transport of elements of the fundamental group of a fiber along a path, when the path describes a loop around a singular fiber, it defines an automorphism of π 1 ( T n ) called monodromy transformation [J.J. Duistermaat, On global action-angle coordinates, Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics 33 (6) (1980) 687–706]. Some systems give rise to a non-classical setting, in which the path can wind around a singular fiber only by crossing a codimension 1 submanifold of special singular fibers (a wall), in this case a non-classical parallel transport can be defined on a subgroup of the fundamental group. This gives rise to what is known as monodromy with fractional coefficients [N. Nekhoroshev, D. Sadovskiì, B. Zhilinskiì, Fractional monodromy of resonant classical and quantum oscillators, Comptes Rendus Mathematique 335 (11) (2002) 985–988]. In this article, we give a precise meaning to the non-classical parallel transport. In particular we show that it is a homologic process and not a homotopic one. We justify this statement by describing the type of singular fibers that generate a wall that can be crossed, by describing the parallel transport in a semi-local neighbourhood of the wall of singularities, and by producing a family of 4-dimensional examples.

Global action-angle coordinates for completely integrable systems with noncompact invariant submanifolds

The obstruction to the existence of global action-angle coordinates of Abelian and noncommutative (non-Abelian) completely integrable systems with compact invariant submanifolds has been studied. We extend this analysis to the case of noncompact invariant submanifolds.

Some remarks on the Gelfand Cetlin system

In the first section of this paper, we show that the functions in involution of the Gelfand–Cetlin system can be obtained from a λ-parametric Lax equation. In the second section, we observe that the Gelfand–Cetlin system has no obstructions to global action–angle coordinates, and we give an explicit expression of global (action) angle coordinates. In the third section, we remark the fact that the Gelfand–Cetlin system is obtained via a nesting of superintegrable systems, and show they all present a non-vanishing Chern class.

Geometric structure of “broadly integrable” Hamiltonian systems

We study the geometry of the fibration in invariant tori of a Hamiltonian system which is integrable in Bogoyavlenskij’s “broad sense”—a generalization of the standard cases of Liouville and non-commutative integrability. We show that the structure of such a fibration generalizes that of the standard cases. Firstly, the base manifold has a Poisson structure. Secondly, there is a natural way of arranging the invariant tori which generates a second foliation of the phase space; however, such a foliation is not just the polar to the invariant tori. Finally, under suitable conditions, there is a notion of an “action manifold” with an affine structure. We also study the analogous of the problem of the existence of “global action-angle coordinates” for these systems.

Monodromy, diabolic points, and angular momentum coupling

Monodromy, or the most basic obstruction to global action-angle coordinates is shown to be present in the well known problem of two coupled angular momenta. It is also shown that in the corresponding quantum problem monodromy manifests itself as the redistribution of energy levels between different multiplets of the quantum spectrum.

On the Quantization of Polygon Spaces

Moduli spaces of polygons have been studied since the nineties for their topological and symplectic properties. Under generic assumptions, these are symplectic manifolds with natural global action-angle coordinates. This paper is concerned with the quantization of these manifolds and of their action coordinates. Applying the geometric quantization procedure, one is lead to consider invariant subspaces of a tensor product of irreducible representations of $SU(2)$. These quantum spaces admit natural sets of commuting observables. We prove that these operators form a semi- classical integrable system, in the sense that they are Toeplitz operators with principal symbol the square of the action coordinates. As a consequence, the quantum spaces admit bases whose vectors concentrate on the Lagrangian submanifolds of constant action. The coefficients of the change of basis matrices can be estimated in terms of geometric quantities. We recover this way the already known asymptotics of the classical $6j$-symbols.