Dirac structures, nonholonomic systems and reduction (Q441278)

The present paper connects nonholonomic reduction with Dirac geometry by reformulating the reduction of implicit Hamiltonian describing a nonholonomic system in terms of a Dirac structure and its associated distributions and codistributions. An important result is Theorem 4 which provides a nonholonomic optimal point reduction by Dirac actions. The Noether nonholonomic theorem is carefully examined in the present setting and in this way it results an explanation for certain (gauge) first integrals that sometimes appear as a consequence of this theorem. Several examples are analyzed: the constrained particle in space, the vertical rolling disk, the Chaplygin skate (classical or with a rotor on it), the Heisenberg particle.