The origins of symplectic calculus in Lagrange's work

MaRDI QIDQ1594936zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Patrick Iglesias-Zemmour

Publication date 30 January 2001

Published in L'Enseignement Mathématique. 2e Série (Search for Journal in Brave)

zbMATH Keywords

Hermann Weylmethod of variations of constants

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) History of dynamical systems and ergodic theory (37-03) History of differential geometry (53-03) History of mechanics of particles and systems (70-03) Hamilton's equations (70H05)

Review text

Since Kepler ephemerides of a planet were no question but there was no general approach to the global problem of real movements within the whole planetary system. To that end Lagrange has invented in 1808-1811 a method of variations of constants. In order to describe the movement of one planet around the Sun (solving a second order differential equation) one needs 6 constants but an instantaneous shock (e.g., impact of an asteroid) yields another 6 constants which describe the movement of that planet along another ellipse. Lagrange considered interactions of other planets within the system as a series of infinitesimal and continuous shocks. In that way he came to a differentiable description of a perturbated planet as a curve in the space of all Keplerian movements. And it was here that a symplectic structure appeared for the first time (the term ``symplectic has been, however, introduced by Hermann Weyl only in 1946). The paper is a fine reconstruction of Lagrange's procedures.

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