scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1193174

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Publication date 19 October 1999

Euler-Lagrange equations exterior differential system integrability Noether's theorem variational problems

Optimality conditions for problems involving partial differential equations (49K20) Exterior differential systems (Cartan theory) (58A15) Variational principles in infinite-dimensional spaces (58E30)

Review text

The author summarizes his recent work on the approach to variational problems via exterior differential systems. An exterior differential system \((X; I,\omega)\) consists of a space \(X\) equipped with an ideal \(I\subset\Omega^*(X)\) and an independence condition \(\omega\in\Omega^n\). A submanifold \(N\subset X\) of dimension \(n\) is an integral manifold if \(I\) vanishes on \(N\) and \(\omega\) vanishes nowhere on \(N\). Given \(\varphi\in\Omega^n(X)\), one can define a functional \(\Phi\) on the space of integral submanifolds by setting \(\Phi(N):=\int_N\varphi\). One then searches for critical points of this functional. In his book on ``Exterior differential systems and the calculus of variations (1983; Zbl 0512.49003), \textit{P. Griffiths} developped a formalism to investigate such variational problems in one independent variable (\(n=1\)). Here, the case of several independent variables is also considered. Many classical variational problems can be transformed into variational problems \((X;I,\omega;\varphi)\) of the type described above. For example, the functional \[ \Phi(\gamma)={1\over 2}\int_\gamma\kappa^2 ds\tag{*} \] on curves \(\gamma\) in \(\mathbb R^3\) is considered in the present paper, where \(\kappa\) denotes the curvature of \(\gamma\). Here, for \(X\) one takes the space of Frénet frames times \(\mathbb R^2\) with curvature and torsion as coordinates. The author obtains the Euler-Lagrange equations for the variational problem \((X;I,\omega;\varphi)\) under certain technical assumptions; these can be described as another exterior differential system. By an analog of Noether's theorem, the infinitesimal symmetries of \((X;I,\omega;\varphi)\) give rise to a conservation law. This makes it sometimes possible to ``completely integrate a variational problem \((X;I,\omega;\varphi)\), thereby enlarging \(X\) if necessary. For example, the problem (*) is completely integrable in this sense, even though classical methods can only partially solve (*). Another application of the techniques described above consists in finding locally defined functionals on spaces of \(C^\infty\)-loops whose Euler-Lagrange equations vanish identically; these functionals represent \(C^\infty\)-invariants of loops. Much of the material presented in this exposition is taken from the author's article [Ill. J. Math. 33, No. 1, 10-26 (1989; Zbl 0669.58013)]. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0892.00059].

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