Hidden symmetries and Killing tensors (Q801346)

The author investigates a notion of Killing tensor on a manifold M and its relation to symmetries of Hamiltonian systems on \(T^*M\) and their constants of motion. It is a well-known fact that a Killing vector field lifted from M to \(T^*M\) generates a symmetry of a corresponding Hamiltonian system (''obvious'' symmetry). Lifting of a Killing tensor field from M to \(T^*M\) gives a vector field on \(T^*M\) which also generates a symmetry, but this symmetry is ''hidden'', i.e. mixes up coordinates and momenta in a nontrivial way. Examples are given leading to well-known symmetries of some classical systems