Closed Magnetic geodesics on Heisenberg nilmanifolds

Abstract

In this work we study the existence of closed magnetic geodesics on three-dimensional Heisenberg nilmanifolds for every left-invariant Lorentz force. Our first objective is to establish the existence of closed contractible magnetic geodesics on $H_3$. Once the invariant magnetic field is induced to a compact quotient $M=\Lambda \backslash H_3$, we study magnetic geodesics on $M$. Firstly, we determine conditions on a lattice $\Lambda \subset H_3$ to ensure that a given magnetic geodesic projects to a closed curve on $M$. In particular, we prove that for {\it any} energy level below the Ma\~n\'e critical value there always exists a contractible closed magnetic geodesic on the compact manifold $M$. On the other hand, we show that closed magnetic geodesics do not necessarily exist in every homotopy class. Finally, we present examples of compact quotients $\Gamma_k\backslash H_3$ that admit infinitely many closed magnetic trajectories, as well as examples for which no closed non-contractible magnetic trajectories exist for a given left-invariant Lorentz force.