No label defined (Q4399993)

The dynamics of a classical mechanical system is given by the solutions of the Hamilton and Euler-Lagrange equations. Geometric descriptions of these equations can be done by means of the symplectic structures defined respectively on the cotangent and tangent bundles of the configuration space \(M\). The canonical symplectic structure is used for the cotangent bundle \(T^*M\), and the symplectic structure defined by means of the canonical almost tangent structure and the Lagrangian function is used for the tangent bundle \(TM\). The purpose of this thesis is to extend this approach to the case of classical field theories. To do this, the author considers the concept of a \(k\)-symplectic structure, a geometrical structure which arises by abstracting the geometrical ingredients of the cotangent bundle of \(k^1\)-covelocities \((T^1_k)^*M\). By choosing a Hamiltonian function, the corresponding field equations are obtained in a Hamiltonian version. To obtain the field equations in a Lagrangian version, the author uses almost \(k\)-tangent structures defined by abstracting the geometry of the tangent bundle of \(k^1\)-velocities \(T^1_kM\). To illustrate both descriptions, the author presents some physical examples. For the case of the Hamilton equations, the electrostatic equations with a constant electric charge density are considered on the Euclidean space. In the Lagrangian formalism, an elastic one-dimensional string and an oscillating gas in the 3-dimensional space are given. The non-autonomous geometrical descriptions in classical mechanics are obtained by using the cosymplectic structures whose geometrical model is \({\mathbb R}\times T^*M\). The corresponding geometrical description in classical field theory is obtained by considering \(k\)-cosymplectic manifolds and stable almost \(k\)-tangent structures. A detailed geometric study of these structures has been done. The author gives several applications: the electrostatic equations in \({\mathbb R}^3\) for the case of arbitrary metrics and electric charge density, scalar fields in Minkowski spacetime, and the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism. Finally, both geometrical descriptions are connected with the so-called multisymplectic formalism in jet bundles.