Variational principles for Hamiltonian systems

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Hamiltonian integrators are sometimes divided into classes called Type I, II, III, and IV, depending on the four kinds of generating functions for symplectic maps in the context of geometric numerical integration. The goal of each is to preserve the geometric properties (such as being symplectic) in the process of deriving the numerical solution. The differences among these types are determined by the choice of initial and final momentum variables that are used to define the generating function.\N\NIn the first part of the paper, the authors consider Type II and Type III integrators for Hamiltonian mechanics and describe a variety of new variational principles. The incentive for this is an observation that many interesting Hamiltonian systems are degenerate, and for these it may be better to approach numerical solution methods using variational techniques. In an earlier paper, the second author and \textit{J. Zhang} [IMA J. Numer. Anal. 31, No. 4, 1497--1532 (2011; Zbl 1232.65177)] used the Type II framework to construct Hamiltonian variational integrators using an approximate version of the exact discrete Hamiltonian.\N\NHere they authors develop their variational principle on vector spaces, extend to general parallelizable manifolds and then infinite-dimensional manifolds. Their approach uses a virtual work principle that is used to reinforce Type II boundary conditions.\N\NThe second part of the paper includes a broader review of the literature of variational principles for Hamiltonian systems.



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