arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M. Palese.
We will read, through the Emmy Noether paper and the two concepts of `proper' and `improper' conservation laws, the problem, posed by Hilbert, of the nature of the law of conservation of energy in the theory of General Relativity. Epistemological issues involved with the two kind of conservation laws will be enucleate.
A tower for a (2+1)-dimensional Toda type system is constructed in terms of a series expansion of operators which can be interpreted as generalized Bessel coefficients; the result is formulated as an analog of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula. We tackle the problem of the construction of infinitesimal algebraic skeletons for such a tower and discuss some open problems arising along our approach. In particular, we realize the prolongation skeleton as a Kac-Moody algebra.
We consider systems of local variational problems defining non vanishing cohomolgy classes. In particular, we prove that the conserved current associated with a generalized symmetry, assumed to be also a symmetry of the variation of the corresponding local inverse problem, is variationally equivalent to the variation of the strong Noether current for the corresponding local system of Lagrangians. This current is conserved and a sufficient condition will be identified in order such a current be global.
We study cohomological obstructions to the existence of global conserved quantities. In particular, we show that, if a given local variational problem is supposed to admit global solutions, certain cohomology classes cannot appear as obstructions. Vice versa, we obtain a new type of cohomological obstruction to the existence of global solutions for a variational problem.
Invariance properties of classes in the variational sequence suggested to Krupka et al. the idea that there should exist a close correspondence between the notions of variationality of a differential form and invariance of its exterior derivative. It was shown by them that the invariance of a closed Helmholtz form of a dynamical form is equivalent with local variationality of the Lie derivative of the dynamical form, so that the latter is locally the Euler--Lagrange form of a Lagrangian. We show that the corresponding local system of Euler--Lagrange forms is variationally equivalent to a global Euler--Lagrange form.
Higgs fields on gauge-natural prolongations of principal bundles are defined by invariant variational problems and related canonical conservation laws along the kernel of a gauge-natural Jacobi morphism.
A reductive structure is associated here with Lagrangian canonically defined conserved quantities on gauge-natural bundles. Parametrized transformations defined by the gauge-natural lift of infinitesimal principal automorphisms induce a variational sequence such that the generalized Jacobi morphism is naturally self-adjoint. As a consequence, its kernel defines a reductive split structure on the relevant underlying principal bundle.
We propose a suitable formulation of the Hamiltonian formalism for Field Theory in terms of Hamiltonian connections and multisymplectic forms where a composite fibered bundle, involving a line bundle, plays the role of an extended configuration bundle. This new approach can be interpreted as a suitable generalization to Field Theory of the homogeneous formalism for Hamiltonian Mechanics. As an example of application, we obtain the expression of a formal energy for a parametrized version of the Hilbert--Einstein Lagrangian and we show that this quantity is conserved.
We consider the second variational derivative of a given gauge-natural invariant Lagrangian taken with respect to (prolongations of) vertical parts of gauge-natural lifts of infinitesimal principal automorphisms. By requiring such a second variational derivative to vanish, {\em via} the Second Noether Theorem we find that a covariant strongly conserved current is canonically associated with the deformed Lagrangian obtained by contracting Euler--Lagrange equations of the original Lagrangian with (prolongations of) vertical parts of gauge-natural lifts of infinitesimal principal automorphisms lying in the kernel of the generalized gauge-natural Jacobi morphism.
In the Lagrangian framework for symmetries and conservation laws of field theories, we investigate globality properties of conserved currents associated with non-global Lagrangians admitting global Euler--Lagrange morphisms. Our approach is based on the recent geometric formulation of the calculus of variations on finite order jets of fibered manifolds in terms of variational sequences.
By resorting to Noether's Second Theorem, we relate the generalized Bianchi identities for Lagrangian field theories on gauge-natural bundles with the kernel of the associated gauge-natural Jacobi morphism. A suitable definition of the curvature of gauge-natural variational principles can be consequently formulated in terms of the Hamiltonian connection canonically associated with a generalized Lagrangian obtained by contracting field equations.
We derive both {\em local} and {\em global} generalized {\em Bianchi identities} for classical Lagrangian field theories on gauge-natural bundles. We show that globally defined generalized Bianchi identities can be found without the {\em a priori} introduction of a connection. The proof is based on a {\em global} decomposition of the {\em variational Lie derivative} of the generalized Euler--Lagrange morphism and the representation of the corresponding generalized Jacobi morphism on gauge-natural bundles. In particular, we show that {\em within} a gauge-natural invariant Lagrangian variational principle, the gauge-natural lift of infinitesimal principal automorphism {\em is not} intrinsically arbitrary. As a consequence the existence of {\em canonical} global superpotentials for gauge-natural Noether conserved currents is proved without resorting to additional structures.
The geometry of an admissible Bäcklund transformation for an exterior differential system is described by an admissible Cartan connection for a geometric structure on a tower with infinite--dimensional skeleton which is the universal prolongation of a $|1|$--graded semi-simple Lie algebra.
We formulate higher order variations of a Lagrangian in the geometric framework of jet prolongations of fibered manifolds. Our formalism applies to Lagrangians which depend on an arbitrary number of independent and dependent variables, together with higher order derivatives. In particular, we show that the second variation is equal (up to horizontal differentials) to the vertical differential of the Euler--Lagrange morphism which turns out to be self-adjoint along solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations. These two objects, respectively, generalize in an invariant way the Hessian morphism and the Jacobi morphism (which is then self-adjoint along critical sections) of a given Lagrangian to the case of higher order Lagrangians. Some examples of classical Lagrangians are provided to illustrate our method.
In the classical Lagrangian approach to conservation laws of gauge-natural field theories a suitable (vector) density is known to generate the so--called {\em conserved Noether currents}. It turns out that along any section of the relevant gauge--natural bundle this density is the divergence of a skew--symmetric (tensor) density, which is called a {\em superpotential} for the conserved currents. We describe gauge--natural superpotentials in the framework of finite order variational sequences according to Krupka. We refer to previous results of ours on {\em variational Lie derivatives} concerning abstract versions of Noether's theorems, which are here interpreted in terms of ``horizontal'' and ``vertical'' conserved currents. The gauge--natural lift of principal automorphisms implies suitable linearity properties of the Lie derivative operator. Thus abstract results due to Kolář, concerning the integration by parts procedure, can be applied to prove the {\em existence} and {\em globality} of superpotentials in a very general setting.
We provide an exact regular solution of an operator system arising as the prolongation structure associated with the heavenly equation. This solution is expressed in terms of operator Bessel coefficients.
We show that the nonlinear 2+1--dimensional Three--Wave Resonant Interaction equations, describing several important physical phenomena, can be generated starting from incomplete Lie algebras in the framework of multidimensional prolongation structures. We make use of an {\em ansatz} involving the structure equations of a principal prolongation connection induced by an admissible Bäcklund map.
In the framework of finite order variational sequences a new class of Lagrangians arises, namely, \emph{special} Lagrangians. These Lagrangians are the horizontalization of forms on a jet space of lower order. We describe their properties together with properties of related objects, such as Poincaré--Cartan and Euler--Lagrange forms, momenta and momenta of generating forms, a new geometric object arising in variational sequences. Finally, we provide a simple but important example of special Lagrangian, namely the Hilbert--Einstein Lagrangian.