Linearizations of ordinary differential equations by area preserving maps (Q4487341)

The problem of equivalence of ordinary differential equations has been studied by several authors, e.g. Tresse, Cartan, Cher, and recently by \textit{N. Kamran}, \textit{K. G. Lamb} and \textit{W. F. Shadwick} [J. Differ. Geom. 22, 139-150 (1985; Zbl 0594.34034)]. The problem is classified into categories depending on the types of coordinate changes employed to transform the equations. In this paper, for the second-order equations \[ y''(x)= f(x,y(x), y'(x)) \] area preserving diffeomorphisms \((x,y)\mapsto (X,Y)\) are considered as coordinate changes, and for third-order equations \[ y'''(x)= f(x,y(x), y'(x),y''(x)) \] contact form preserving diffeomorphisms \((x,y,z)\mapsto (X,Y,Z)\) are considered, where the contact form is the natural one on the first jet space; \(dy- z dx\). It is proved that a given equation \[ y''(x)= f(x,y(x), y'(x)) \] is the transformed into the simplest equation \(y''(x)= 0\), if and only if the function \(f(x,y,z)\) is of order three in the variable \(z\); \[ f(x,y,z)= P(x,y)+ 3Q(x,y)z+ 3R(x,y) z^2+ S(x,y) x^3, \] and also \(P\), \(Q\), \(R\) and \(S\) satisfy the following system of equations: \[ P_y- Q_x= 2(PR- Q^2),\quad Q_y- R_x= PS-QR,\quad R_y- S_x= 2(QS- R^2). \] It is also proved that a quite similar result holds for the equivalence problem of third-order equations under contact form preserving diffeomorphisms. Finally, the authors give a geometric interpretation of the above results by using connections on tangent and cotangent bundles whose Christoffel symbols are equal to \(P\), \(Q\), \(R\) and \(S\).