Calculus of variations via the Griffiths formalism (Q1204875)

This paper is devoted to the study of variational problems via the formalism introduced by Griffiths. These problems consist in the study of functionals whose domain of definition is the set of integral curves of an exterior differential system. Griffiths gave a heuristic definition of Euler-Lagrange system for such a functional in order that every stationary point of the functional satisfies the Euler-Lagrange system. The problem is to establish if the system introduced by Griffiths is necessary or sufficient for stationary points of the functional. The sufficiency of the Griffiths system was first established by Bryant, while this paper deals with the necessity of the system. After the introduction of a notion of regularity of an integral curve of a differential system it is shown that every regular extremal of the functional associated satisfies the Griffiths system. The result is sharp in the sense that nonregular extremals exist which do not satisfy the Griffiths system. These results are applied to the study of geodesics in sub-Riemannian Geometry.