INVARIANT VARIATIONAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVING VECTOR AND METRIC FIELDS IN 4-DIMENSIONS

Abstract

Variational principles in which the Lagrangian is a scalar density and a function of a metric tensor and a vector field, together with their first derivatives, are investigated in a 4-dimensional space. Associated with such Lagrangians are two expressions, the metric Euler-Lagrange expression and the vector Euler-Lagrange expression. The most general Lagrangians (of this kind) for which either of these Euler-Lagrange expressions vanishes identically, are obtained.

The most general Lagrangian (of this kind) for which the vector Euler-Lagrange equations are precisely Maxwell's equations is obtained. Although this Lagrangian is more general than the one commonly used, it still has essentially the same energy-momentum tensor.

The most general Lagrangian (of this kind) for which the metric Euler-Lagrange expression is precisely the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor is derived. Although this Lagrangian is also more general than the one commonly used, the associated vector Euler-Lagrange equations are still Maxwell's equations.

Finally it is shown that, in contrast to the situation which obtains in the case of scalar densities which are functions of up to second derivatives of the metric and first derivatives of the vector field, there does not exist a Lagrangian, of the kind under investigation, for which the metric Euler-Lagrange expression is precisely the Einstein tensor and the vector Euler-Lagrange expression vanishes identically.     

Sufficiency conditions under which a lagrangian is an ordinary divergence

An expression is derived for the variation of Lagrangians which are such that the set of admissible variables of variation is star-shaped. If such a Lagrangian leads to identically vanishing Euler-Lagrange expressions then it is shown that under suitable circumstances the Lagrangian in question must be an ordinary divergence. Furthermore, an expression is given for the ‘vector’ field which appears in this ordinary divergence.     

Two-dimensional systems that arise from the Noether classification of Lagrangians on the line

Noether-like operators play an essential role in writing down the first integrals for Euler-Lagrange systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The classification of such operators is carried out with the help of analytic continuation of Lagrangians on the line. We obtain the classification of 5, 6 and 9 Noether-like operators for two-dimensional Lagrangian systems that arise from the submaximal and maximal dimensional Noether point symmetry classification of Lagrangians on the line. Cases in which the Noether-like operators are also Noether point symmetries for the systems of two ODEs are mentioned. In particular, the 8-dimensional maximal Noether algebra is remarkably obtained for the simplest system of the free particle equations in two dimensions from the 5-dimensional complex Noether algebra of the standard Lagrangian of the scalar free particle equation. We present the effectiveness of Noether-like operators for the determination of first integrals of systems of two nonlinear differential equations which arise from scalar complex Euler-Lagrange ODEs that admit Noether symmetry.     

The structure of the Euler-Lagrange mapping

The purpose of this paper is to review properties of the Euler-Lagrange mapping in the higher order variational theory on fibred manifolds. We present basic theorems on the kernel of the Euler-Lagrange mapping, describing variationally trivial Lagrangians, and its image, characterizing variational source forms. We discuss invariance properties of Lagrangians and Euler-Lagrange forms, and the Noether’s theory. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Contact symmetries of the Helmholtz form

In this paper, vector fields which are symmetries of the contact ideal are studied. It is shown that contact symmetries of the Helmholtz form transform a dynamical form to a dynamical form which is variational (i.e. comes as the Euler-Lagrange form from a Lagrangian). The case of dynamical forms representing first-order classes in the variational sequence is analysed in detail, which means, by the variational sequence theory, that systems of ordinary differential equations of order ?3 are concerned.     

Variational sequences in mechanics

Let be a fibered manifold over a base manifold . A differential 1-form , defined on the -jet prolongation of , is said to be contact, if it vanishes along the -jet prolongation of every section of . The notion of contactness is naturally extended to -forms with . The contact forms define a subsequence of the De Rham sequence on . The corresponding quotient sequence is known as the rth order variational sequence. In this paper, the case of 1-dimensional base is considered. A simple proof is given of the fact that the rth order variational sequence is an acyclic resolution of the constant sheaf. Then the 1st order variational sequence is studied in detail. The quotient sheaves, as well as the quotient mappings, are determined explicitly, and their relationship to the standard concepts of the 1st order calculus of variations is discussed. The following is shown: a) the lagrangians in the 1st order variational sequence (classes of 1-forms) coincide with 2nd order lagrangians, affine in the second derivative variables, b) the concept of the Euler-Lagrange form is extended to 2-forms which are not necessarily variational, c) the concept of the Helmholtz-Sonin form is introduced as the class of an arbitrary 3-form, d) the well-known fundamental notions such as the Euler-Lagrange, and Helmholtz-Sonin mappings are represented by two arrows at the beginning of the variational sequence; this relates the global structure of the Euler-Lagrange mapping to the cohomology of , e) all the remaining classes of -forms with , as well as the quotient mappings, are determined explicitly, f) a locally variational form is defined as a generalization of a symplectic form; locally variational forms, associated to a fixed Euler-Lagrange form, are characterized, and g) distributions associated with a locally variational form are described, and their relation to the Euler-Lagrange equations is studied. These results illustrate differences between finite order variational sequences and variational bicomplexes, based on infinite jet constructions. Received February 18, 1996 / In revised form December 1996 / Accepted December 2, 1996     

ADJOINT PROBLEMS IN THE CALCULUS OF VARIATIONS OF MULTIPLE INTEGRALS

Abstract

A general theory of adjoint variational problems is formulated for essentially arbitrary Lagrangians involving m independent and n dependent variables, together with the first derivatives of the latter, This approach contains as a special case the theory of Haar [4], in which the Lagrangian may depend solely on the derivatives of a single dependent function of two arguments. Because of the eventual occurrence of possibly incompatible sets of integrability conditions, the basic theory is developed against the background of non-integrable m-dimensional subspaces, which is in sharp contrast to the traditional approach to the calculus of variations. Relatively self-adjoint Lagrangians are defined and completely characterized in terms of an arbitrary Riemannian metric. In the course of the general theory certain geometric object fields are encountered in a very natural manner, some of which had arisen previously in the canonical formalism proposed by Caratheodory [2]. Accordingly the analysis of the present paper may serve to shed some light on this conceptually extremely difficult formalism.     

Hamiltonian systems as selfdual equations

Hamiltonian systems with various time boundary conditions are formulated as absolute minima of newly devised non-negative action functionals obtained by a generalization of Bogomolnyi’s trick of ‘dcompleting squares’. Reminiscent of the selfdual Yang-Mills equations, they are not derived from the fact that they are critical points (i.e., from the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations) but from being zeroes of the corresponding non-negative Lagrangians. A general method for resolving such variational problems is also described and applied to the construction of periodic solutions for Hamiltonian systems, but also to study certain Lagrangian intersections.      

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-adic sector of the adelic string

We study the construction of Lagrangians that can be considered the Lagrangians of the p-adic sector of an adelic open scalar string. Such Lagrangians are closely related to the Lagrangian for a single p-adic string and contain the Riemann zeta function with the d’Alembertian in its argument. In particular, we present a new Lagrangian obtained by an additive approach that combines all p-adic Lagrangians. This new Lagrangian is attractive because it is an analytic function of the d’Alembertian. Investigating the field theory with the Riemann zeta function is also interesting in itself.     

Geometric Formulation of Higher-Order Lagrangian Systems in Supermechanics

Using supervector fields along a morphism of graded manifolds, we study both the geometry of the tangent supermanifolds of an arbitrary order and k th-order ordinary differential superequations, in order to develop the higher-order Lagrangian formalism of supermechanics. In particular, we obtain, in this formalism, a generalization of Noether's theorem and its converse.     

Singularities of Lagrangian mean curvature flow: zero-Maslov class case

We study singularities of Lagrangian mean curvature flow in ℂ ⁿ when the initial condition is a zero-Maslov class Lagrangian. We start by showing that, in this setting, singularities are unavoidable. More precisely, we construct Lagrangians with arbitrarily small Lagrangian angle and Lagrangians which are Hamiltonian isotopic to a plane that, nevertheless, develop finite time singularities under mean curvature flow. We then prove two theorems regarding the tangent flow at a singularity when the initial condition is a zero-Maslov class Lagrangian. The first one (Theorem A) states that that the rescaled flow at a singularity converges weakly to a finite union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones. The second theorem (Theorem B) states that, under the additional assumptions that the initial condition is an almost-calibrated and rational Lagrangian, connected components of the rescaled flow converges to a single area-minimizing Lagrangian cone, as opposed to a possible non-area-minimizing union of area-minimizing Lagrangian cones. The latter condition is dense for Lagrangians with finitely generated H ₁(L,ℤ).     

On the nonlinear self-adjointness of the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation

A new general theorem, which does not require the existence of Lagrangians, allows to compute conservation laws for an arbitrary differential equation. This theorem is based on the concept of self-adjoint equations for nonlinear equations. In this paper we show that the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation is self-adjoint and nonlinearly self-adjoint. This property is used to compute conservation laws corresponding to the symmetries of the equation. In particular the property of the Zakharov–Kuznetsov equation to be self-adjoint and nonlinearly self-adjoint allows us to get more conservation laws.     

Self-adjoint elliptic operators and manifold decompositions Part II: Spectral flow and Maslov index

This the second part of a three-part investigation of the behavior of certain analytical invariants of manifolds that can be split into the union of two submanifolds. In Part I we studied a splicing construction for low eigenvalues of self-adjoint elliptic operators over such a manifold. Here we go on to study parameter families of such operators and use the previous “static” results in obtaining results on the decomposition of spectral flows. Some of these “dynamic” results are expressed in terms of Maslov indices of Lagrangians. The present treatment is sufficiently general to encompass the difficulties of zero-modes at the ends of the parameter families as well as that of “jumping Lagrangians.” In Part III, we will compare infinite- and finite-dimensional Lagrangians and determinant line bundles and then introduce “canonical perturbations” of Lagrangian subvarieties of symplectic varieties. We shall then use this information to study invariants of 3-manifolds, including Casson's invariant. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Anti-selfdual Lagrangians II: unbounded non self-adjoint operators and evolution equations

New variational principles based on the concept of anti-selfdual (ASD) Lagrangians were recently introduced in “AIHP-Analyse non linéaire, 2006”. We continue here the program of using such Lagrangians to provide variational formulations and resolutions to various basic equations and evolutions which do not normally fit in the Euler-Lagrange framework. In particular, we consider stationary boundary value problems of the form as well ass dissipative initial value evolutions of the form where is a convex potential on an infinite dimensional space, A is a linear operator and is any scalar. The framework developed in the above mentioned paper reformulates these problems as and respectively, where is an “ASD” vector field derived from a suitable Lagrangian L. In this paper, we extend the domain of application of this approach by establishing existence and regularity results under much less restrictive boundedness conditions on the anti-selfdual Lagrangian L so as to cover equations involving unbounded operators. Our main applications deal with various nonlinear boundary value problems and parabolic initial value equations governed by transport operators with or without a diffusion term. Nassif Ghoussoub research was partially supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The author gratefully acknowledges the hospitality and support of the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques in Montréal where this work was initiated. Leo Tzou’s research was partially supported by a doctoral postgraduate scholarship from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Anti-self-dual Lagrangians: Variational resolutions of non-self-adjoint equations and dissipative evolutions

We develop the concept and the calculus of anti-self-dual (ASD) Lagrangians and their derived vector fields which seem inherent to many partial differential equations and evolutionary systems. They are natural extensions of gradients of convex functions – hence of self-adjoint positive operators – which usually drive dissipative systems, but also provide representations for the superposition of such gradients with skew-symmetric operators which normally generate unitary flows. They yield variational formulations and resolutions for large classes of non-potential boundary value problems and initial-value parabolic equations. Solutions are minima of newly devised energy functionals, however, and just like the self (and anti-self) dual equations of quantum field theory (e.g. Yang–Mills) the equations associated to such minima are not derived from the fact they are critical points of the functional I, but because they are also zeroes of suitably derived Lagrangians. The approach has many advantages: it solves variationally many equations and systems that cannot be obtained as Euler–Lagrange equations of action functionals, since they can involve non-self-adjoint or other non-potential operators; it also associates variational principles to variational inequalities, and to various dissipative initial-value first order parabolic problems. These equations can therefore be analyzed with the full range of methods – computational or not – that are available for variational settings. Most remarkable are the permanence properties that ASD Lagrangians possess making their calculus relatively manageable and their domain of applications quite broad.     

Self-adjoint elliptic operators and manifold decompositions part I: Low Eigenmodes and stretching

This paper is the first of a three-part investigation into the behavior of analytical invariants of manifolds that can be split into the union of two submanifolds. In this article, we will show how the low eigensolutions of a self-adjoint elliptic operator over such a manifold can be studied by a splicing construction. This construction yields an approximated solution of the operator whenever we have two L²-solutions on both sides and a common limiting value of two extended L²-solutions. In Part II, the present analytic “Mayer-Vietoris” results on low eigensolutions and further analytic work will be used to obtain a decomposition theorem for spectral flows in terms of Maslov indices of Lagrangians. In Part III after comparing infinite- and finite-dimensional Lagrangians and determinant line bundles and then introducing “canonical perturbations” of Lagrangian subvarieties of symplectic varieties, we will study invariants of 3-manifolds, including Casson's invariant. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Multiplicative form of the Lagrangian

We obtain an alternative class of Lagrangians in the so-called the multiplicative form for a system with one degree of freedom in the nonrelativistic and the relativistic cases. This new form of the Lagrangian can be regarded as a one-parameter class with the parameter λ obtained using an extension of the standard additive form of the Lagrangian because both forms yield the same equation of motion. We note that the multiplicative form of the Lagrangian can be regarded as a generating function for obtaining an infinite hierarchy of Lagrangians that yield the same equation of motion. This nontrivial set of Lagrangians confirms that the Lagrange function is in fact nonunique.     

The variational method of Djukic and Vujanovic and its relation to classical variational methods

Summary The variational methods are classified into different types according to their Lagrangians, namely, classical-, limit-, adjoint- restricted- and Djukic, Vujanovic (DV)-Lagrangians. For some types, the existence of a Lagrangian to a given equation is discussed and examples are listed. Rules for a general application of the DV-method are presented and the equivalence of the DV-method to other variational methods is shown. This guarantees the identity of the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations and their (exact) solutions. In special cases, even the approximate variational solutions become identical.

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Zusammenfassung Variationsverfahren werden je nach Lagrange Funktion in verschiedene Typen eingeteilt; nämlich in klassische-, limes-, adjungierte-, eingeschränkte- und Djukic, Vujanovic (DV)- Lagrange Funktionen. Für einige Typen wird die Existenz einer Lagrange Funktion zu einer vorgegebenen Gleichung diskutiert und es werden Beispiele angeführt. Regeln für eine allgemeine Anwendung des DV-Verfahrens werden angegeben. Die Aequivalenz der DV-Methode mit anderen Variationsverfahren wird nachgewiesen. Sie garantiert die Identität der Euler-Lagrange Gleichungen und ihrer(exakten) Lösungen. In Sonderfällen kann sogar die approximative Variationslösung identisch werden.

     

On Natural First order Lagrangians

The natural first order Lagrangian is a function defined onpairs of Riemannian manifolds and which is invariant with respectto immersions and depends continuously on 1-jets of metrics.We prove that there is a canonical bijection between naturalfirst order Lagrangians and functions which are smooth, symmetricand even.     

A class of nonlinear Lagrangians for nonconvex second order cone programming

This paper focuses on the study of a class of nonlinear Lagrangians for solving nonconvex second order cone programming problems. The nonlinear Lagrangians are generated by Löwner operators associated with convex real-valued functions. A set of conditions on the convex real-valued functions are proposed to guarantee the convergence of nonlinear Lagrangian algorithms. These conditions are satisfied by well-known nonlinear Lagrangians appeared in the literature. The convergence properties for the nonlinear Lagrange method are discussed when subproblems are assumed to be solved exactly and inexactly, respectively. The convergence theorems show that, under the second order sufficient conditions with sigma-term and the strict constraint nondegeneracy condition, the algorithm based on any of nonlinear Lagrangians in the class is locally convergent when the penalty parameter is less than a threshold and the error bound of solution is proportional to the penalty parameter. Compared to the analysis in nonlinear Lagrangian methods for nonlinear programming, we have to deal with the sigma term in the convergence analysis. Finally, we report numerical results by using modified Frisch’s function, modified Carroll’s function and the Log-Sigmoid function.