Uncovering fractional monodromy (Q380330): Difference between revisions

The paper under review is concerned with a class of connected compact symplectic integrable Hamiltonian manifolds on the phase space \({\mathbb R}^4\), with canonical coordinates \(p=(q_1,q_2,p_1,p_2)\). We take the functionally independent integrals as \(J,H\) where \(\{J,H\}=0\) and \(\{\cdot,\cdot\}\) is the Poisson bracket. The function \(F:{\mathbb R}^4\to{\mathbb R}^2\) defined by \(F(p)=(J(p),H(p))=(j,h)\) is called the integral map. Here \(F\) defines a fibration of \({\mathbb R}^4\). A value \(f\in {\mathbb R}^2\) of \(F\) is \textit{regular} if \(DF_p\) is submersive for all \(p\in F^{-1}(f)=\{p\in {\mathbb R}^4:F(p)=f\}\) and \textit{critical} if this condition fails at some \(p\in F^{-1}(f)\). The set of critical values is the bifurcation set \(C\) and the set of regular values is denoted as \(R\). The Arnol'd-Liouville theorem says that if \(f\in R\) then \(F^{-1}(f)\) is a smooth torus \({\mathbf T}^2\) or the disjoint union of tori. The interest here is in the global properties of such manifolds where critical values \(f\) occur and \(F^{-1}(f)\) is no longer a smooth torus. One way to investigate these global properties is through monodromy. For some \(f\in R\) one can choose a smooth closed path \(\Gamma:[0,1]\to R\) such that \(f=\Gamma(0)=\Gamma(1)\). Then each \(F^{-1}(\Gamma(t))\) is a torus. Let \((a,b)\) be a basis of the homology group \(H_1(F^{-1}(f))\simeq {\mathbb Z}^2\). We can smoothly transport this basis along the path to obtain an automorphism of \(H_1(F^{-1}(f))\), the same for all paths in the homotopy class of \(\Gamma\). This will all be trivial if the path encircles only regular points. If the path encircles an isolated critical value the monodromy is also well understood. The special interest here is when there is a curve \(C\) of critical values so that a closed path may cross the curve at a singular value. This paper adds to the examples that show that it is possible to transport a subgroup of the homology group along such paths. The phenomenon is called fractional monodromy. The systems treated here are all based on the \(n_1:(-n_2)\) oscillator, \(J=\frac{n_1}{2}|z_1|^2-\frac{n_2}{2}|z_2|^2\), where \(z_k=q_k+ip_k\) and the \(n_k\) are relatively prime integers such that \(1\leq n_1\leq n_2\). Here \(H\) is more general, subject to the requirement that it Poisson commutes with \(J\) and some topological restrictions. Though the authors do not mention this, it is clear from the choice of \(J\) that the phenomena being described are related to superintegrability. Indeed the \(n_1:(-n_2)\) oscillator is superintegrable with 3 functionally independent constants of motion. A generating set is \(\{J, K,L\}\) with \(K=n_1|z_1|^2+n_2|z_2|^2\), \(L=z_1^{n_2}z_2^{n_1}+{\bar z}_1^{n_2}{\bar z}_2^{n_1}\). Since \(H\) Poisson commutes with \(J\), it must be a function of these generators. Thus the entire system is contained within the symmetry algebra of the \(n_1:(-n_2)\) oscillator. The main innovation of the authors is to simplify the geometry of the fibration by passing to an appropriate branched covering map \((w_1,w_2)\longmapsto (z_1,z_2)=(w_1^{n_1},w_2^{n_2})\). In the covering space, the system pulls back to the \(1:(-1)\) oscillator which has only a single isolated critical value with well-understood monodromy. Then they pass back to the original space, a highly nontrivial procedure. They show that if \((a,b)\) is an ordered basis of \(H_1(F^{-1}(j,h))\) where \(b\) is the homology cycle represented by an integral curve of the Hamiltonian flow determined by \(J\), then \((a',b')=(n_1n_2a,b)\) is an ordered basis for the homology cycles that can be parallel transported along \(\Gamma\). In terms of the \((a',b')\) basis the monodromy matrix for the parallel transport is \(\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 1&0\\1&1\end{smallmatrix}\right)\). In the original \((a,b)\) basis, the matrix is, formally, \(\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 1&0\\ \frac{1}{n_1n_2}&1\end{smallmatrix}\right)\), which motivates the fractional monodromy terminology.