The Lie algebra of classical mechanics

DOI10.3934/JCD.2019017MaRDI QIDQ2297869zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Robert I. McLachlan, Ander Murua

Publication date 20 February 2020

Published in Journal of Computational Dynamics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.07554

zbMATH Keywords

free Lie algebrassplitting methodssymplectic integrators

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Identities, free Lie (super)algebras (17B01) Differential geometric methods (tensors, connections, symplectic, Poisson, contact, Riemannian, nonholonomic, etc.) for problems in mechanics (70G45)

Abstract: Classical mechanical systems are defined by their kinetic and potential energies. They generate a Lie algebra under the canonical Poisson bracket. This Lie algebra, which is usually infinite dimensional, is useful in analyzing the system, as well as in geometric numerical integration. But because the kinetic energy is quadratic in the momenta, the Lie algebra obeys identities beyond those implied by skew symmetry and the Jacobi identity. Some Poisson brackets, or combinations of brackets, are zero for all choices of kinetic and potential energy, regardless of the dimension of the system. Therefore, we study the universal object in this setting, the `Lie algebra of classical mechanics' modelled on the Lie algebra generated by kinetic and potential energy of a simple mechanical system with respect to the canonical Poisson bracket. We show that it is the direct sum of an abelian algebra $mathcalX$, spanned by `modified' potential energies isomorphic to the free commutative nonassociative algebra with one generator, and an algebra freely generated by the kinetic energy and its Poisson bracket with $mathcalX$. We calculate the dimensions $c_n$ of its homogeneous subspaces and determine the value of its entropy $li{m}_{noinfty}{c}_n^{1/n}$. It is $1.8249dots$, a fundamental constant associated to classical mechanics. We conjecture that the class of systems with Euclidean kinetic energy metrics is already free, i.e., the only linear identities satisfied by the Lie brackets of all such systems are those satisfied by the Lie algebra of classical mechanics.

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Cited in

(7)

• The Lie-Rinehart universal Poisson algebra of classical and quantum mechanics
• Preface. Special issue in honor of Reinout Quispel
• Group-theoretical foundations of classical mechanics: the Lagrangian gauge problem
• A note on the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff series in terms of right-nested commutators
• The algebraic entropy of classical mechanics
• Classical and Quantum Mechanics with Lie Algebras
• Generalized Toda Mechanics Associated with Classical Lie Algebras and Their Reductions

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