Symmetric Toda, gradient flows, and tridiagonalization

Applications of Lie algebras and superalgebras to integrable systems (17B80) Completely integrable finite-dimensional Hamiltonian systems, integration methods, integrability tests (37J35) Relations of finite-dimensional Hamiltonian and Lagrangian systems with Lie algebras and other algebraic structures (37J37) Completely integrable systems and methods of integration for problems in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian mechanics (70H06)

Abstract: The Toda lattice (1967) is a Hamiltonian system given by

n

points on a line governed by an exponential potential. Flaschka (1974) showed that the Toda lattice is integrable by interpreting it as a flow on the space of symmetric tridiagonal

n i m e s n

matrices, while Moser (1975) showed that it is a gradient flow on a projective space. The symmetric Toda flow of Deift, Li, Nanda, and Tomei (1986) generalizes the Toda lattice flow from tridiagonal to all symmetric matrices. They showed the flow is integrable, in the classical sense of having

d

integrals in involution on its

2 d

-dimensional phase space. The system may be viewed as integrable in other ways as well. Firstly, Symes (1980, 1982) solved it explicitly via

Q R

-factorization and conjugation. Secondly, Deift, Li, Nanda, and Tomei (1986) 'tridiagonalized' the system into a family of tridiagonal Toda lattices which are solvable and integrable. In this paper we derive their tridiagonalization procedure in a natural way using the fact that the symmetric Toda flow is diffeomorphic to a twisted gradient flow on a flag variety, which may then be decomposed into flows on a product of Grassmannians. These flows may in turn be embedded into projective spaces via Pl"ucker embeddings, and mapped back to tridiagonal Toda lattice flows using Moser's construction. In addition, we study the tridiagonalized flows projected onto a product of permutohedra, using the twisted moment map of Bloch, Flaschka, and Ratiu (1990). These ideas are facilitated in a natural way by the theory of total positivity, building on our previous work (2023).

Review text

The nonperiodic Toda lattice is the system of \(n\) particles of unit mass on a line governed by the Hamiltonian \[H=\frac12\sum_{i=1}^n p_i^2+\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} \exp(q_i-q_{i+1}).\] Liouville integrability of the system can be established thanks to the tridiagonal Lax matrix \(M\) with entries \[M_{ij}=-\delta_{ij} p_j+(\delta_{i,j-1}+\delta_{i,j+1}) \exp\left(\frac12 (q_i-q_{i+1})\right).\] It was observed by \textit{J. Moser} [Lect. Notes Phys. None, 467--497 (1975; Zbl 0323.70012)] that the flow of this sytem can be expressed as a gradient flow on the projective space \(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}(\mathbb{R})\). In this paper, the authors obtain an analogous expression for the symmetric Toda system of \textit{P. Deift} et al. [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 39, 183--232 (1986; Zbl 0606.58020)], where \(M\) is taken to be an arbitrary symmetric matrix. They relate the symmetric Toda flow to the gradient flow on the adjoint orbit \(\mathcal{O}_\lambda\) in \({u}(n)\) of \(\mathrm{diag}(\mathrm{i} \lambda_1,\ldots,\mathrm{i} \lambda_n)\), where \(\lambda_1, \ldots,\lambda_n\) are the real eigenvalues of \(M\). The result uses an identification of \(\mathcal{O}_\lambda\) with the flag variety \(\mathrm{Fl}_n(\mathbb{C})\); this was previously proved by the authors in [Commun. Math. Phys. 398, No. 3, 1213--1289 (2023; Zbl 1526.17011)] for the case where the flow is mapped into the totally non-negative part \(\mathrm{Fl}_n^{\geq 0}(\mathbb{C})\). The authors then show how their construction allows to interpret geometrically a `tridiagonalization method' due to P. Deift et al. [loc. cit.] that maps the symmetric Toda flow into a product of tridiagonal Toda flows. The paper finishes with some results and questions about the Toda flows induced on moment polytopes.

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