A sub-Finsler problem on the Cartan group (Q2317213)

If \(D\) is a smooth distribution on an \(n\)-dimensional manifold \({\mathcal X}\), then a smoothly varying Finsler metric on each subspace \(D_{x}\subset T_{x}{\mathcal X}\) is called a sub-Finsler metric on \(D\). A sub-Finsler manifold, denoted by the triple \(({\mathcal X},D,F)\), is a smooth \(n\)-dimensional manifold \({\mathcal X}\) equipped with a sub-Finsler metric \(F\) on a bracket-generating distribution \(D\) of rank \(s>0\). A control system is usually presented in local coordinates as an undetermined system of ordinary differential equations \(\dot{X} = f(x,u)\), \(x\in \mathbb{R}^{n}\), \(u\in \mathbb{R}^{s}\). Many problems can be described by equations of the form \(\dot{X} = f(x)u\), where \(f(x)\) is a matrix. In this paper, the authors consider the five-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebra \(L=\mathrm{span}(X_1,\dots,X_5)\) with the nonzero brackets \([X_1,X_2]=X_3\), \([X_1,X_3]=X_4\), \([X_2,X_3]=X_5\) and the defined multiplication. The Lie algebra \(L\) is the free nilpotent Lie algebra of step 3 with two generators and is called the Cartan algebra. If \(M\) is the connected simply connected Lie group with the Lie algebra \(L\), then \(M\) is called the Cartan group. The authors use the model \(M=\mathbb{R}^5_{x,y,z,v,w}\) with the Lie algebra \(L\) modeled by left-invariant vector fields \(X_1\), \(X_2\), \(X_3\), \(X_4\), \(X_5\), on \(\mathbb{R}^5\). The left-invariant \(l_\infty\) sub-Finsler problem on the Cartan group is defined as \(\dot q=u_1X_1+u_2X_2\), \(q\in M\), \(u\in U=\{u;\ \|u\|_\infty\le 1\}\subset\mathbb{R}^2\), \(q(0)=q_0=\mathrm{Id}\), \(q(T)=q_1\), \(T\to\mathrm{min}\), where \(\|u\|_\infty=\max\{|u_1|,|u_2|\}\). The authors characterize extremal curves of this problem. If \(\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{sing}}_{q_0}(T)\) is the attainable set of the sub-Finsler problem for time \(T > 0\) along trajectories starting from the point \(q_0\) with control \(u_i(t)=1\) or \(u_i(t)=-1\) for \(i\in\{1,2\}\), then a control \(u(t)\) and the corresponding trajectory \(q(t)\) are called geometrically optimal if \(u_i(t)=1\) or \(u_i(t)=-1\) and the trajectory \(q(t)\) ends on the boundary of the set \(\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{sing}}_{q_0}(T)\). The authors show that if a control \(u(t)\) with the condition \(u_2(t)=1\) and the corresponding trajectory \(q(t)\), \(t\in[0,T]\), are geometrically optimal in the sub-Finsler problem, then there exists a Lipschitz curve in the cotangent bundle \(\lambda_t\in T^*_{q(t)}M\) such that \(\dot\lambda_t=u_1(t)\vec{h}_1(\lambda_t)+u_2(t)\vec{h}_2(\lambda_t)\), \(u_1(t){h}_1(\lambda_t)+u_2(t){h}_2(\lambda_t)=\max_{v\in U}\{v_1(t){h}_1(\lambda_t)+v_2(t){h}_2(\lambda_t)\}=H(\lambda_t)\), and \(u_1(t){h}_1(\lambda_t)+{h}_2(\lambda_t)=\max_{\bar{u}_1\in[-1,1]\in U}\{\bar{u}_1(t){h}_1(\lambda_t)+{h}_2(\lambda_t)\}=H(\lambda_t)\), where \(H(\lambda_t)=(|h_1|+|h_2|)(\lambda)\). Also, the authors describe different types of normal extremal arcs, bang-bang, singular, and mixed ones.