Reduced Singular Solutions of EPDiff Equations on Manifolds with Symmetry

Abstract

The EPDiff equation governs geodesic flow on the diffeomorphisms with respect to a chosen metric, which is typically a Sobolev norm on the tangent space of vector fields. EPDiff admits a remarkable ansatz for its singular solutions, called ``diffeons,'' whose momenta are supported on embedded subspaces of the ambient space. Diffeons are true solitons for some choices of the norm. The diffeon solution ansatz is a momentum map. Consequently. the diffeons evolve according to canonical Hamiltonian equations. We examine diffeon solutions on Einstein spaces that are "mostly" symmetric, i.e., whose quotient by a subgroup of the isometry group is 1-dimensional. An example is the two-sphere, whose isometry group $\SO{3}$ contains $S^1$. In this situation, the singular diffeons (called ``Puckons'') are supported on latitudes (``girdles'') of the sphere. For this $S^1$ symmetry of the two-sphere, the canonical Hamiltonian dynamics for Puckons reduces from integral partial differential equations to a dynamical system of ordinary differential equations for their colatitudes. Explicit examples are computed numerically for the motion and interaction of the Puckons on the sphere with respect to the $H^1$ norm. We analyse this case and several other 2-dimensional examples. From consideration of these 2-dimensional spaces, we outline the theory for reduction of diffeons on a general manifold possessing a metric equivalent to the warped product of the line with the bi-invariant metric of a Lie group.