Lagrange-Poincaré field equations (Q720668)

This paper develops a general Lagrangian reduction procedure by symmetry in the field-theoretical context. Previous work has already been done on covariant Lagrange-Poincaré reduction, but in a particular geometric setting. In the case of mechanics, this procedure restricts directly to the classical Lagrange-Poincaré approach. Given a locally trivial fiber bundle \(\pi_{X,P}:P\to X\) and a first-order Lagrangian density on this bundle which is invariant under a free and proper left action \(\Phi:G\times P \to P\) such that \(\pi_{X,P}\circ \Phi_g=\pi_{X,P}\), \(\forall g\in G\), the paper studies a variational problem defined on the reduced space \((J^1P)/G\). In particular, the Lagrange-Poincaré field equations are deduced, the reconstruction problem is solved, and the problem to find conservation laws is discussed. Finally, applications are made to the cases of principal bundle reduction, the Skyrme model, the subgroup reduction, the molecular strand, and to the minimal immersion problem.