The instability of the equilibrium of a two-degree-of-freedom gyro (Q1113706)

Consider an analytical mechanical system with the Lagrangian function \[ (1)\quad L=(\dot q_ 1^ 2;\dot q^ 2_ 2)+\omega (q_ 1\dot q_ 2- q_ 2\dot q_ 1)+V(q_ 1,q_ 2). \] Lagrangian equations with the Lagrangian (1) can be, for example, equations of motion of a material point on a plane, acted upon by certain potential forces and a magnetic force, with the vector of magnetic induction perpendicular to the plane of motion. Let \(q_ 1=q_ 2=0\) be the equilibrium position of the system, and suppose that the reduced force function V can be expanded as a MacLaurin series \(V(q_ 1,q_ 2)=\sum^{\infty}_{k=0}V_{m+k}(q_ 1,q_ 2),\) \(m\geq 2\), where \(V_{m+k}\) are homogeneous polynomials of degree \(m+k\). If \(\omega =0\) and the form \(V_ m\) can take positive values, the equilibrium position \(q_ 1=q_ 2=0\) is unstable. If, however, \(\omega\neq 0\), the gyroscopic stabilization is possible, and it is of interest to investigate sufficient conditions of instabilities, some of these conditions are stated and proved in this paper.