On Galilean connections and the first jet bundle (Q1935633)

The aim of the paper is to pose the foundations of the global geometry of systems of second-order differential equations in the language of Cartan connections. Formally, the flat version of this geometry is phase space. Then it is ``curved'' by introducing a space with Cartan connection modelled on the Galilean group. As a main result of the paper, the authors prove the existence of laboratory coordinates, adapted to the Galilean geometry. From this result it follows that the geodesics of the system are solutions to a system of second-order ordinary differential equations. It is also shown that if given some coordinate system and a system of second-order ordinary differential equations in these coordinates, then given any choice of tensors drawn from the appropriate space, there exists a unique Galilean connection with these coordinates as its laboratory one, the system of differential equations as its geodesics, and the given tensors as its torsion.