The Jacobi-Rosochatius problem on an ellipsoid: the Lax representations and billiards (Q394025)

The Jacobi problem describes the motion of a material point on the \(n\)-dimensional ellipsoid \(E^n = \{x \in \mathbb R^{n+1}: \langle A^{-1}x,x\rangle = 1\}\) under the influence of the Hook elastic force \(-\sigma x\) (where \(\sigma\) is a real parameter) and \(A\) is a diagonal positive matrix. It is known that this problem can be written in Hamiltonian form \[ \dot{x}= y, \quad \dot{y} = - \frac{\langle A^{-1}y,y\rangle - \sigma }{\langle A^{-2}x,x\rangle}A^{-1}x - \sigma x, \] on the cotangent bundle \(T^\ast E^n\) realized by some constraints. Introducing the Rosochatius potentials \[ V(x) = \frac{\sigma}{2}\langle x,\, x\rangle + \frac{1}{2}\sum\limits_{k=0}^n\mu_k^2 /x_k^2, \] the Jacobi-Rosochatius problem is represented in the following form with the variables \((x,y)\): \[ \dot{x}_k = y_k,\quad \dot{y}_k = - \frac{\langle A^{-1}y,y\rangle + \langle A^{-1}\mu /x,\mu /x\rangle - \sigma}{\langle A^{-2}x,x\rangle}a_k^{-1}x_k - \sigma x_k + \mu_k^2/x_k^3, \] where \(\mu /x = (\mu_0 /x_0 , \mu_1 /x_1 , \ldots , \mu_n /x_n )\). The author shows that the problem is equivalent to the Lax equation \[ \dot{\mathcal{L}}(\lambda ) = [\mathcal{L}(\lambda ),\mathcal{A}(\lambda )], \] where \(\mathcal{A}(\lambda )\) is some \(2\times 2\)-matrix operator. The cotangent bundle \(T^\ast E^{2n+1}\) of the \((2n+1)\)-dimensional real ellipsoid in the complex space is defined. The complex double Jacobi flow restricted to this cotangent bundle describes the motion of a material point on \(E^{2n+1}\), under the influence of the elastic force \(-\sigma z\). The Lax representation of the geodesic flow is discussed. The separable polynomial potential on the ellipsoid is used for solving the problem above. The complete integrability is proved in the case of the generic symmetric ellipsoid and analogous systems are described on complex projective spaces. Billiards within the ellipsoid under the influence of the Hook and Rosochatius potentials between the impacts are considered. A geometric interpretation of the integrability analogous to the classical Chasles and Poncelet theorems is discussed as well.