Two action-angle surprises on the sphere (Q2229216)

If \((V,\omega)\) is the real symplectic vector space, then \(\text{Sp}(V,\omega)_\lambda\) is the Lagrangian odd symplectic group under conjugation whose elements are linear symplectic maps of \((V,\omega)\) which leave every vector in the Lagrangian subspace \(\lambda\) fixed. If \(V=\mathbb{R}^{2(n+1)}\) and \(\omega\) is given by \(J_{2(n+1)}\), then \(\text{Sp}(2n+1,\mathbb{R})_\lambda\) is a subgroup of the odd symplectic group \(\text{Sp}(2n+1,\mathbb{R})_{e_{n+1}}\) of real symplectic matrices on \((\mathbb{R}^{2(n+1)},J_{2(n+1)})\), which leave the vector \(e_{n+1}\) of a basis fixed. \(\text{Sp}(2n+1,\mathbb{R})_\lambda\) is Abelian and every conjugacy class is a singleton. Hence every element of this group is a conjugacy invariant, called a modulus. If \(\gamma\) is a nontrivial periodic orbit of a Hamiltonian system \(X_H\) on the symplectic manifold \((M,\omega)\) whose integral curve \(t\mapsto\varphi_t(p)\) through a point \(p\) has period \(\tau\), then the linearized Poincaré map \(\mathcal{P}_p=T_p\varphi_\tau:T_pM\to T_pM\) of the return map \(\varphi_\tau\) is a linear symplectic map of \(\left(T_pM,\omega(p)\right)\) into itself. However, this linear map is not just symplectic, it fixes the vector \(X_H(p)\). Thus, the return map is an element of the odd symplectic group, which is the subgroup of the symplectic group that fixes a given nonzero vector. In [Regul. Chaotic Dyn. 16, No. 1-2, 2--16 (2011; Zbl 1277.37092)], the present authors showed how this group could detect the period of a periodic geodesic, which the full symplectic group is unable to do. In this paper, the authors explore an extension of this idea to the case of Hamiltonian systems that are completely integrable. They examine the corresponding collection of odd symplectic transformations that leave a Lagrange plane invariant and forming the Lagrangian odd symplectic group. They use the linearized Poincaré map of a periodic orbit. The Lagrangian odd symplectic group differs from the full symplectic group by having the normal forms with moduli. That is, the Lagrangian odd symplectic group has continuous conjugacy invariants that are not eigenvalues. The main point of this paper is that even in simple examples such as periodic geodesics on a surface of revolution, these moduli provide dynamic-geometric information that is symplectically invisible. Thus the Lagrangian odd symplectic group provides a deeper link between symplectic linear algebra and the underlying dynamics than the symplectic group.