Concircular tensors in Spaces of Constant Curvature: With Applications to Orthogonal Separation of The Hamilton-Jacobi Equation

Abstract

We study concircular tensors in spaces of constant curvature and then apply the results obtained to the problem of the orthogonal separation of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation on these spaces. Any coordinates which separate the geodesic Hamilton-Jacobi equation are called separable. Specifically for spaces of constant curvature, we obtain canonical forms of concircular tensors modulo the action of the isometry group, we obtain the separable coordinates induced by irreducible concircular tensors, and we obtain warped products adapted to reducible concircular tensors. Using these results, we show how to enumerate the isometrically inequivalent orthogonal separable coordinates, construct the transformation from separable to Cartesian coordinates, and execute the Benenti-Eisenhart-Kalnins-Miller (BEKM) separation algorithm for separating natural Hamilton-Jacobi equations.Comment: Removed preamble and references to unpublished articles. Also made some minor changes in the bod