Integrable structures of dispersionless systems and differential geometry (Q2404879)

The aim of this paper is to develop the theory of Whitham-type hierarchies integrable by hydrodynamic reductions as a theory of certain differential-geometric objects. As an application the author constructs Gibbons-Tsarev systems associated to moduli space of algebraic curves of arbitrary genus and proves that the universal Whitham hierarchy is integrable by hydrodynamic reductions. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 is an introduction to the subject. In Section 2 the author recalls the definition of Whitham-type hierarchies. In Section 3 he introduces the main object of this paper which he calls Gibbons-Tsarev (GT) structure. Locally a GT structure is given by a family of vector fields and by a function satisfying some relations. He explains how to promote a local GT structure to a global differential geometric object. He also explains how to construct new GT structures from a given one and how to construct potentials of integrable Whitham-type hierarchies associated with a given GT structure. The author also explains a relation between GT structures and Lie algebroids of a certain type.