Periodic orbits in Hamiltonian systems with involutory symmetries (Q1692092)

A classical problem in Hamiltonian systems theory is the study of existence of periodic orbits near equilibrium points. In this article the authors study two classes of Hamiltonian systems with involutive symmetries, where in both cases the involution reverses the sign of the Hamiltonian. Similar to results obtained in [\textit{C. A. Buzzi} and \textit{J. S. W. Lamb}, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst., Ser. B 5, No. 1, 51--66 (2005; Zbl 1064.37043)] the authors here start their investigation by considering a symplectic involution. The expression for the normal form is determined and it is shown that if this expression is positive, then there are two families of non-symmetric solutions, while if it is negative there are no solutions. The second problem is an analysis near the equilibrium point in an equivariant Hamiltonian system with an anti-symplectic symmetry. The authors prove that there are no symmetric periodic orbits in the neighborhood of the equilibrium point and there exist at least two and not more than twelve asymmetric families of periodic solutions (nonlinear normal modes) under the same general conditions. In both cases, the involution changes the sign of the Hamiltonian, and since it is assumed that the corresponding linear system is periodic, the equilibrium will be in resonance \(1: -1\).