The Herglotz principle and vakonomic dynamics (Q2117848)

In the Herglotz variational principle, one considers a Lagrangian that depends not only on the positions and velocities of the system, but also on the infinitesimal action itself. It has been recently acknowledged that the Herglotz principle provides the dynamics for the Lagrangian counterpart of contact Hamiltonian systems. In this paper the authors study vakonomic dynamics for contact systems with nonlinear constraints. In order to obtain the dynamics, they consider a space of admissible paths, which are the ones tangent to a given submanifold. Then, they find the critical points of the Herglotz action on this space of paths. This dynamics can be also obtained through an extended Lagrangian, including Lagrange multiplier terms. In the final section, they sketch the relationship between the vakonomic dynamics of contact Lagrangian systems and the Herglotz optimal control problem. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1482.94007].