Rayleigh dissipation from the general recurrence of metrics in path spaces (Q1926136)

The study of Finsler geometry has become very attractive due to the excellent works of many geometers. One of the most important geometers with remarkable contributions in Finsler geometry is the author of this paper. In the present paper, he uses important structures of Finsler manifolds, such as: sprays, semisprays, Rayleigh structures, Rayleigh dissipation and also \((\alpha, \beta)\) Finsler metrics. A spray, in the theory of Finsler manifolds, is a compatible system of second order ordinary differential equations. Also, the notion of semispray on the total space \(TM\) is related to that of second order ordinary differential equation (SODE) on the base manifold \(M\). Using a Rayleigh structure, as defined in [\textit{F. Bullo} and \textit{A. D. Lewis}, Geometric control of mechanical systems. Modeling, analysis, and design for simple mechanical control systems. Berlin: Springer (2005; Zbl 1066.70002)], the author applies this theory and also the Obata tensors to the study of some important Finsler metrics, namely: Randers, Kropina, and ``Riemannian''-type \((\alpha, \beta)\) metrics. In this paper, a family of nonlinear connections \(N\) is also analyzed within this theory of Rayleigh structure and these nonlinear connections play an important role for the present paper. Summing up, the author obtains important results and also the paper is an important influence of the development of Finsler geometry. It is worth to be studied by those interested in Finsler geometry.