The optimal momentum map

Abstract

The presence of symmetries in a Hamiltonian system usually implies the existence of conservation laws that are represented mathematically in terms of the dynamical preservation of the level sets of a momentum mapping. The symplectic or Marsden--Weinstein reduction procedure takes advantage of this and associates to the original system a new Hamiltonian system with fewer degrees of freedom. However, in a large number of situations, this standard approach does not work or is not efficient enough, in the sense that it does not use all the information encoded in the symmetry of the system. In this work, a new momentum map will be defined that is capable of overcoming most of the problems encountered in the traditional approach.Comment: 35 pages. To appear in: Geometry, Dynamics, and Mechanics: 60th Birthday Volume for J.E. Marsden. P. Holmes, P. Newton, and A. Weinstein, eds., Springer-Verlag, New York, 200