On the geometry of discrete contact mechanics (Q2022535)

Contact Hamiltonian systems have been investigated in recent years, especially in the context of dissipative mechanical systems. One of the most relevant features of contact dynamics is the absence of conservative properties in contrast to the conservative character of the energy in symplectic dynamics. Geometric numerical integrators for contact flows stem from a discretization of the Herglotz variational principle. In this paper the authors construct variational integrators, a discrete Herglotz principle and the corresponding discrete Herglotz equations for a discrete Lagrangian. In this way, efficient numerical integrators for contact Lagrangian systems will be conformally of contact type by construction. The discrete Herglotz principle and its geometric properties are investigated in detail, including the discrete Legendre transforms and the associated discrete Lagrangian and Hamiltonian flows. The existence of dissipated quantities is studied in relation with symmetries of the system.