Discrete Routh Reduction

This paper develops the theory of abelian Routh reduction for discrete mechanical systems and applies it to the variational integration of mechanical systems with abelian symmetry. The reduction of variational Runge-Kutta discretizations is considered, as well as the extent to which symmetry reduction and discretization commute. These reduced methods allow the direct simulation of dynamical features such as relative equilibria and relative periodic orbits that can be obscured or difficult to identify in the unreduced dynamics. The methods are demonstrated for the dynamics of an Earth orbiting satellite with a non-spherical $J_2$ correction, as well as the double spherical pendulum. The $J_2$ problem is interesting because in the unreduced picture, geometric phases inherent in the model and those due to numerical discretization can be hard to distinguish, but this issue does not appear in the reduced algorithm, where one can directly observe interesting dynamical structures in the reduced phase space (the cotangent bundle of shape space), in which the geometric phases have been removed. The main feature of the double spherical pendulum example is that it has a nontrivial magnetic term in its reduced symplectic form. Our method is still efficient as it can directly handle the essential non-canonical nature of the symplectic structure. In contrast, a traditional symplectic method for canonical systems could require repeated coordinate changes if one is evoking Darboux' theorem to transform the symplectic structure into canonical form, thereby incurring additional computational cost. Our method allows one to design reduced symplectic integrators in a natural way, despite the noncanonical nature of the symplectic structure.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, numerous minor improvements, references added, fixed typo

Generalized Hamiltonian mechanics

Our purpose is to generalize Hamiltonian mechanics t the case in which the energy function (Hamiltonian), H , is a distribution (generalized function) in the sense of Schwartz. We follow the same general program as in the smooth case. Familiarity with the smooth case is helpful, although we have striven to make the exposition self-contained, starting from calculus on manifold

Gauge Theory for Finite-Dimensional Dynamical Systems

Gauge theory is a well-established concept in quantum physics, electrodynamics, and cosmology. This theory has recently proliferated into new areas, such as mechanics and astrodynamics. In this paper, we discuss a few applications of gauge theory in finite-dimensional dynamical systems with implications to numerical integration of differential equations. We distinguish between rescriptive and descriptive gauge symmetry. Rescriptive gauge symmetry is, in essence, re-scaling of the independent variable, while descriptive gauge symmetry is a Yang-Mills-like transformation of the velocity vector field, adapted to finite-dimensional systems. We show that a simple gauge transformation of multiple harmonic oscillators driven by chaotic processes can render an apparently "disordered" flow into a regular dynamical process, and that there exists a remarkable connection between gauge transformations and reduction theory of ordinary differential equations. Throughout the discussion, we demonstrate the main ideas by considering examples from diverse engineering and scientific fields, including quantum mechanics, chemistry, rigid-body dynamics and information theory

Routh reduction and the class of magnetic Lagrangian systems

In this paper, some new aspects related to Routh reduction of Lagrangian systems with symmetry are discussed. The main result of this paper is the introduction of a new concept of transformation that is applicable to systems obtained after Routh reduction of Lagrangian systems with symmetry, so-called magnetic Lagrangian systems. We use these transformations in order to show that, under suitable conditions, the reduction with respect to a (full) semi-direct product group is equivalent to the reduction with respect to an Abelian normal subgroup. The results in this paper are closely related to the more general theory of Routh reduction by stages.Comment: 23 page

Control for an Autonomous Bicycle

The control of nonholonomic and underactuated systems with symmetry is illustrated by the problem of controlling a bicycle. We derive a controller which, using steering and rear-wheel torque, causes a model of a riderless bicycle to recover its balance from a near fall as well as converge to a time parameterized path in the ground plane. Our construction utilizes new results for both the derivation of equations of motion for nonholonomic systems with symmetry, as well as the control of underactuated robotic systems

Some basic properties of infinite dimensional Hamiltonian systems

We consider some fundamental properties of infinite dimensional Hamiltonian systems, both linear and nonlinear. For exemple, in the case of linear systems, we prove a symplectic version of the teorem of M. Stone. In the general case we establish conservation of energy and the moment function for system with symmetry. (The moment function was introduced by B. Kostant and J .M. Souriau). For infinite dimensional systems these conservation laws are more delicate than those for finite dimensional systems because we are dealing with partial as opposed to ordinary differential equations

A horseshoe in the dynamics of a forced beam

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Nonlinear Stability in Fluids and Plasmas

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Controllability and stabilizability of distributed bilinear systems: Recent results and open problems

This paper describes recent results for controlling and stabilizing control systems of the form ú(t) = Au(t) + p(t) B(u(t)) where A is the infinitesimal generator C∞ semigroup on a Banach space X, B' map from X into X, and p(t) is a real valued control. Application to a vibrating beam problem is given for illusstration of the theory