Relative equilibria in Hamiltonian systems: The dynamic interpretation of nonlinear stability on a reduced phase space (Q1187360)

The stability of relative equilibria for Hamiltonian systems is generally equated with Lyapunov stability of the corresponding fixed point of the flow on the reduced phase space. The author gives the interpretation of this stability by means of the unreduced space provided that the action of the isotropy group of the momentum is a proper action on the phase space, the Lie algebra of the group admits a metric invariant under the adjoint action of the symmetry group \(G\) and no infinitesimal generator of the action of \(G\) vanishes at the relative equilibrium. The author's ``single sentence'' description of the situation is as follows: ordinarily, a stable relative equilibrium can drift only along the direction of the isotropy subgroup of its momentum.