Symmetries of nonlinear ordinary differential equations: the modified Emden equation as a case study

Lie symmetry analysis is one of the powerful tools to analyze nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We review the effectiveness of this method in terms of various symmetries. We present the method of deriving Lie point symmetries, contact symmetries, hidden symmetries, nonlocal symmetries, $\lambda$-symmetries, adjoint symmetries and telescopic vector fields of a second-order ordinary differential equation. We also illustrate the algorithm involved in each method by considering a nonlinear oscillator equation as an example. The connections between (i) symmetries and integrating factors and (ii) symmetries and integrals are also discussed and illustrated through the same example. The interconnections between some of the above symmetries, that is (i) Lie point symmetries and $\lambda$-symmetries and (ii) exponential nonlocal symmetries and $\lambda$-symmetries are also discussed. The order reduction procedure is invoked to derive the general solution of the second-order equation.Comment: 31 pages, To appear in the proceedings of NMI workshop on nonlinear integrable systems and their applications which was held at Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics, Tiruchirappalli, Indi

Darboux transformations for a 6-point scheme

We introduce (binary) Darboux transformation for general differential equation of the second order in two independent variables. We present a discrete version of the transformation for a 6-point difference scheme. The scheme is appropriate to solving a hyperbolic type initial-boundary value problem. We discuss several reductions and specifications of the transformations as well as construction of other Darboux covariant schemes by means of existing ones. In particular we introduce a 10-point scheme which can be regarded as the discretization of self-adjoint hyperbolic equation

Systems of Hess-Appel'rot Type and Zhukovskii Property

We start with a review of a class of systems with invariant relations, so called {\it systems of Hess--Appel'rot type} that generalizes the classical Hess--Appel'rot rigid body case. The systems of Hess-Appel'rot type carry an interesting combination of both integrable and non-integrable properties. Further, following integrable line, we study partial reductions and systems having what we call the {\it Zhukovskii property}: these are Hamiltonian systems with invariant relations, such that partially reduced systems are completely integrable. We prove that the Zhukovskii property is a quite general characteristic of systems of Hess-Appel'rote type. The partial reduction neglects the most interesting and challenging part of the dynamics of the systems of Hess-Appel'rot type - the non-integrable part, some analysis of which may be seen as a reconstruction problem. We show that an integrable system, the magnetic pendulum on the oriented Grassmannian $Gr^+(4,2)$ has natural interpretation within Zhukovskii property and it is equivalent to a partial reduction of certain system of Hess-Appel'rot type. We perform a classical and an algebro-geometric integration of the system, as an example of an isoholomorphic system. The paper presents a lot of examples of systems of Hess-Appel'rot type, giving an additional argument in favor of further study of this class of systems.Comment: 42 page

Software to compute infinitesimal symmetries of exterior differenial systems, with applications

A description is given of a software package to compute symmetries of partial differential equations, using computer algebra. As an application, the computation of higher-order symmetries of the classical Boussinesq equation is given leading to the recursion operator for symmetries in a straightforward way. Nonlocal symmetries for the Federbush model are obtained yielding the linearization of the model

Symbolic Computation of Variational Symmetries in Optimal Control

We use a computer algebra system to compute, in an efficient way, optimal control variational symmetries up to a gauge term. The symmetries are then used to obtain families of Noether's first integrals, possibly in the presence of nonconservative external forces. As an application, we obtain eight independent first integrals for the sub-Riemannian nilpotent problem (2,3,5,8).Comment: Presented at the 4th Junior European Meeting on "Control and Optimization", Bialystok Technical University, Bialystok, Poland, 11-14 September 2005. Accepted (24-Feb-2006) to Control & Cybernetic