Time-dependent contact mechanics (Q6101255)

This paper introduces a new geometric structure, the cocontact manifold, to describe explicitly time-dependent contact systems. Such structures arise, for example, in the investigation of thermodynamic and dissipative systems. The authors aim to develop Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalism for such systems, considering both regular and singular conditions. A cocontact structure on a \((2n + 2)\)-dimensional manifold \(M\) consists of two one-forms \(\tau\) and \(\eta\) such that \(\tau\) is closed and \(\tau \wedge \eta \wedge (d\eta)^{\wedge n}\) is a volume form on \(M\). A cocontact manifold is then the pair obtained by the manifold \(M\) and that volume form. These manifolds extend the concept of both contact and cosymplectic structures, After exploring the geometrical setting used in the remainder of the paper, the authors provide some examples of cocontact manifolds and note that cocontact manifolds are Jacobi manifolds. Then a Hamiltonian formulation for dissipative time-dependent systems is developed, followed by a description of a Lagrangian formulation for cocontact systems. The authors give some special attention to the case of damped harmonic oscillators with holonomic constraints that are allowed to vary in time. Three more examples with some simulations are provided in the last section.