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Non-autonomous mechanics

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Non-autonomous mechanics describe non-relativistic mechanical systems subject to time-dependent transformations. In particular, this is the case of mechanical systems whose Lagrangians and Hamiltonians depend on the time. The configuration space of non-autonomous mechanics is a fiber bundle over the time axis coordinated by .

This bundle is trivial, but its different trivializations correspond to the choice of different non-relativistic reference frames. Such a reference frame also is represented by a connection on which takes a form with respect to this trivialization. The corresponding covariant differential determines the relative velocity with respect to a reference frame .

As a consequence, non-autonomous mechanics (in particular, non-autonomous Hamiltonian mechanics) can be formulated as a covariant classical field theory (in particular covariant Hamiltonian field theory) on . Accordingly, the velocity phase space of non-autonomous mechanics is the jet manifold of provided with the coordinates . Its momentum phase space is the vertical cotangent bundle of coordinated by and endowed with the canonical Poisson structure. The dynamics of Hamiltonian non-autonomous mechanics is defined by a Hamiltonian form .

One can associate to any Hamiltonian non-autonomous system an equivalent Hamiltonian autonomous system on the cotangent bundle of coordinated by and provided with the canonical symplectic form; its Hamiltonian is .

See also

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References

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  • De Leon, M., Rodrigues, P., Methods of Differential Geometry in Analytical Mechanics (North Holland, 1989).
  • Echeverria Enriquez, A., Munoz Lecanda, M., Roman Roy, N., Geometrical setting of time-dependent regular systems. Alternative models, Rev. Math. Phys. 3 (1991) 301.
  • Carinena, J., Fernandez-Nunez, J., Geometric theory of time-dependent singular Lagrangians, Fortschr. Phys., 41 (1993) 517.
  • Mangiarotti, L., Sardanashvily, G., Gauge Mechanics (World Scientific, 1998) ISBN 981-02-3603-4.
  • Giachetta, G., Mangiarotti, L., Sardanashvily, G., Geometric Formulation of Classical and Quantum Mechanics (World Scientific, 2010) ISBN 981-4313-72-6 (arXiv:0911.0411).