Hamiltonian geodesics in nonholonomic differential systems (Q1387174)

The Hamiltonian formulation of the geodesic flow on a Riemannian manifold is generalized to the sub-Riemannian situation. A sub-Riemannian manifold is a manifold \(M\) equipped with a nonholonomic distribution \(V\subset TM\) carrying a metric, such that the vector fields in \(V\) and their commutators span \(TM\) at each point of \(M\). Curves with tangent vectors in \(V\) are called horizontal, and sub-Riemannian geodesics are locally the shortest horizontal curves between their points. Equivalently, one has a nonnegative bilinear form \(\langle\;,\;\rangle\) of constant rank on \(T^*M\), such that the kernel of \(\langle\;,\;\rangle\) consists precisely of those forms that vanish on \(V\). Then \(H(q,p):={1\over 2}\langle p,p\rangle_q\) is a Hamiltonian for the sub-Riemannian geodesic flow on \(T^*M\). This Hamiltonian \(H\) is given in local coordinates for a distribution \(V\) carrying the restriction of a Riemannian metric on \(M\). Furthermore, the structure of the sub-Riemannian exponential map \(\exp_q: T^*_qM\to M\) is analized for generic sub-Riemannian metrics. In the case of the Heisenberg group with the standard contact distribution, more explicit results on geodesics and horizontal curves are obtained.