Optimal control on Riemannian manifolds by interpolation (Q706384)

The paper deals with one-dimensional high-order variational problems (i.e., variational problems defined in an appropriate space of curves and in which the Lagrangian depends on higher order derivatives). The authors start by formulating an axiomatic setting in which variational problems can be solved using a global-analytic approach. They define a set of axioms the path space should satisfy in order to have good properties. For a general space satisfying these axioms, they introduce a topology in the path space with boundary conditions and show that the path space has the same homotopy type as the basic loop space of the underlying manifold. This general theory is applied to the problem of minimizing a \(k\)-order energy functional defined in the set of curves of Sobolev class \(H^{k+1}\) in a Riemannian manifold. The critical points for this problem are the so-called Riemann polynomials of order \(2k+1\). The main result is that the variational problem satisfies the Palais-Smale condition. Classical methods of critical points theory are applied to this problem. Lyusternik-Schnirelman and Morse theories are used to obtain lower bounds for the number of Riemann polynomials satisfying given boundary condition.