An alternative form of the Helmholtz criterion in the inverse problem of calculus of variations (Q1877320)

The classical inverse problem of the calculus of variations asks when a function is the variational derivative of some functional. A classical answer to this problem is the Helmholtz criterion which boils down to the closedness condition of certain \(1\)-form. This article gives an alternative form of the Helholtz criterion: A function is the variational derivative of some functional if and only if a functional associated to this given function is invariant under all smooth variations. As compared with the original Helmholtz criterion, this alternative form is computationally more convenient in the sense that instead of having to compute the differential of a 1-form, one only has to compute the differential of a function.