Geometry on the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms (Q1126789): Difference between revisions

Joseph Klein was one of the first to study symplectic manifolds [\textit{J. Klein}, Symp. Math. 14, Geom. simplett., Fiz. mat, Teor. geom. Integr. Var. minim., Convegni 1973, 181-192 (1974; Zbl 0306.53037); \textit{C. Godbillon}, `Géométrie différentielle et mécanique analytique' (Nouv. Tirage) Collection Méthodes. Mathématique. Paris: Hermann (1985; Zbl 0653.53001)]. The past eight years have seen a large activity in what one would regard as modern symplectic geometry; the author has been very productive in this context. The article under review discusses the Lie group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms \(\text{Ham}(M,\Omega)\) on a symplectic manifold with Hofer's metric. It includes a discussion of the geodesic flow, some examples, conjectures and a paradox of Hofer's geometry. It is also a nice source for some open problems. For an elementary book on modern symplectic geometry, see [\textit{D. Mc Duff} and \textit{D. Salamon}, `Introduction to symplectic topology', Oxford: Clarendon Press (1995; Zbl 0844.58029)].