Connections on tangent bundles of higher order associated to regular Lagrangians (Q806059)

Given a regular Lagrangian L on a phase space of velocities TM, an interesting problem is to find a connection \(\Gamma_ L\) on TM such that its geodesics are precisely the solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations for L. This problem was solved by \textit{J. Grifone} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 22, No.1, 287-334 (1972; Zbl 0219.53032)]. When L is the kinetic energy given by a Riemannian metric g on M, then \(\Gamma_ L\) is the Riemannian connection determined by g. In this paper the authors extend Grifone's result to higher order Lagrangians. More precisely, if L: \(T^ kM \to R\) is a Lagrangian of order k on M, then they construct a connection on the fibration \(T^{2k-1}M\to T^{2k-2}M\) whose geodesics are precisely the solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations for L. Two examples are described: the elastic beams and the classical (and relativistic) spinning-particle mechanics.