Nonlinear Grassmannians as coadjoint orbits

Publication date 29 December 2004

Abstract: For a given manifold

M

we consider the non-linear Grassmann manifold

G r_{n} (M)

of

n

-dimensional submanifolds in

M

. A closed

(n + 2)

-form on

M

gives rise to a closed 2-form on

G r_{n} (M)

. If the original form was integral, the 2-form will be the curvature of a principal

S^{1}

-bundle over

G r_{n} (M)

. Using this

S^{1}

-bundle one obtains central extensions for certain groups of diffeomorphisms of

M

. We can realize

G r_{m - 2} (M)

as coadjoint orbits of the extended group of exact volume preserving diffeomorphisms and the symplectic Grassmannians

S G r_{2 k} (M)

as coadjoint orbits in the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms. We also generalize the vortex filament equation as a Hamiltonian equation on

G r_{m - 2} (M)

.

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