Symplectic Structure of Discrete Hamiltonian Systems

This paper is concerned with the symplectic structure of discrete nonlinear Hamiltonian systems. The results are related to an open problem that was first proposed by C. D. Ahlbrandt [J. Math. Anal. Appl.180 (1993), 498-517] discussed elsewhere in the literature. But we give a different statement and different proof. Under a solvable condition, we show that the solution operator of a discrete nonlinear Halmiltonian system is symplectic. Then its phase flow is a discrete one-parameter family of symplectic transformations and preserves the phase volume.