Index of an extremal of a Lagrange problem with periodic boundary conditions (Q1917802)

The authors study a Lagrange problem of the calculus of variations, i.e., the problem of minimization of a functional \[ J = \int^t_0 \ell_\tau \bigl( q(\tau), u(\tau) \bigr) d \tau \to \min, \tag{1} \] subject to the differential equation \[ \dot q = \varphi_\tau \bigl( q (\tau), u(\tau) \bigr), \tag{2} \] with the periodic boundary condition \[ q(0) = q(t). \tag{3} \] In this context \(q\) belongs to an \(n\)-dimensional \(C^\infty\)-smooth manifold \(M\), \(u (\cdot) \in L^r_\infty [0,t]\). The mappings \(\ell : [0,t] \times M \times \mathbb{R}^r \to \mathbb{R}\), \(\varphi : [0,t] \times M \times \mathbb{R}^r \to TM\) \((\varphi_\tau (x,u) \in T_xM\) for all \(\tau, u)\) are \(C^\infty\)-smooth with respect to \(x \in M\) and \(C^3\)-smooth with respect to \(u \in \mathbb{R}^r\). These mappings and their derivatives up to third order with respect to \(u\) are measurable and essentially bounded in \(\tau\). In the present paper the authors study the so-called weak minimality. They compute the index and the nullity for an extremal of the Lagrange problem (1)--(2) with periodic boundary conditions (3).