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In mathematics, a symplectomorphism or symplectic map is an isomorphism in the category of symplectic manifolds. In classical mechanics, a symplectomorphism represents a transformation of phase space that is volume-preserving and preserves the symplectic structure of phase space, and is called a canonical transformation.
A diffeomorphism between two symplectic manifolds is called a symplectomorphism if
where is the pullback of . The symplectic diffeomorphisms from to are a (pseudo-)group, called the symplectomorphism group (see below).
The infinitesimal version of symplectomorphisms gives the symplectic vector fields. A vector field is called symplectic if
Also, is symplectic if the flow of is a symplectomorphism for every . These vector fields build a Lie subalgebra of . Here, is the set of smooth vector fields on , and is the Lie derivative along the vector field
Examples of symplectomorphisms include the canonical transformations of classical mechanics and theoretical physics, the flow associated to any Hamiltonian function, the map on cotangent bundles induced by any diffeomorphism of manifolds, and the coadjoint action of an element of a Lie group on a coadjoint orbit.
Any smooth function on a symplectic manifold gives rise, by definition, to a Hamiltonian vector field and the set of all such vector fields form a subalgebra of the Lie algebra of symplectic vector fields. The integration of the flow of a symplectic vector field is a symplectomorphism. Since symplectomorphisms preserve the symplectic 2-form and hence the symplectic volume form, Liouville's theorem in Hamiltonian mechanics follows. Symplectomorphisms that arise from Hamiltonian vector fields are known as Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms.
Since {H, H} = XH(H) = 0, the flow of a Hamiltonian vector field also preserves H. In physics this is interpreted as the law of conservation of energy.
If the first Betti number of a connected symplectic manifold is zero, symplectic and Hamiltonian vector fields coincide, so the notions of Hamiltonian isotopy and symplectic isotopy of symplectomorphisms coincide.
It can be shown that the equations for a geodesic may be formulated as a Hamiltonian flow, see Geodesics as Hamiltonian flows.
The symplectomorphisms from a manifold back onto itself form an infinite-dimensional pseudogroup. The corresponding Lie algebra consists of symplectic vector fields. The Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms form a subgroup, whose Lie algebra is given by the Hamiltonian vector fields. The latter is isomorphic to the Lie algebra of smooth functions on the manifold with respect to the Poisson bracket, modulo the constants.
The group of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of usually denoted as .
Groups of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms are simple, by a theorem of Banyaga. [1] They have natural geometry given by the Hofer norm. The homotopy type of the symplectomorphism group for certain simple symplectic four-manifolds, such as the product of spheres, can be computed using Gromov's theory of pseudoholomorphic curves.
Unlike Riemannian manifolds, symplectic manifolds are not very rigid: Darboux's theorem shows that all symplectic manifolds of the same dimension are locally isomorphic. In contrast, isometries in Riemannian geometry must preserve the Riemann curvature tensor, which is thus a local invariant of the Riemannian manifold. Moreover, every function H on a symplectic manifold defines a Hamiltonian vector field XH, which exponentiates to a one-parameter group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms. It follows that the group of symplectomorphisms is always very large, and in particular, infinite-dimensional. On the other hand, the group of isometries of a Riemannian manifold is always a (finite-dimensional) Lie group. Moreover, Riemannian manifolds with large symmetry groups are very special, and a generic Riemannian manifold has no nontrivial symmetries.
Representations of finite-dimensional subgroups of the group of symplectomorphisms (after ħ-deformations, in general) on Hilbert spaces are called quantizations. When the Lie group is the one defined by a Hamiltonian, it is called a "quantization by energy". The corresponding operator from the Lie algebra to the Lie algebra of continuous linear operators is also sometimes called the quantization; this is a more common way of looking at it in physics.
A celebrated conjecture of Vladimir Arnold relates the minimum number of fixed points for a Hamiltonian symplectomorphism , in case is a compact symplectic manifold, to Morse theory (see [2] ). More precisely, the conjecture states that has at least as many fixed points as the number of critical points that a smooth function on must have. Certain weaker version of this conjecture has been proved: when is "nondegenerate", the number of fixed points is bounded from below by the sum of Betti numbers of (see, [3] [4] ). The most important development in symplectic geometry triggered by this famous conjecture is the birth of Floer homology (see [5] ), named after Andreas Floer.
"Symplectomorphism" is a word in a crossword puzzle in episode 1 of the anime Spy × Family. [6]
Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of differential calculus, integral calculus, linear algebra and multilinear algebra. The field has its origins in the study of spherical geometry as far back as antiquity. It also relates to astronomy, the geodesy of the Earth, and later the study of hyperbolic geometry by Lobachevsky. The simplest examples of smooth spaces are the plane and space curves and surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space, and the study of these shapes formed the basis for development of modern differential geometry during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In differential geometry, a subject of mathematics, a symplectic manifold is a smooth manifold, , equipped with a closed nondegenerate differential 2-form , called the symplectic form. The study of symplectic manifolds is called symplectic geometry or symplectic topology. Symplectic manifolds arise naturally in abstract formulations of classical mechanics and analytical mechanics as the cotangent bundles of manifolds. For example, in the Hamiltonian formulation of classical mechanics, which provides one of the major motivations for the field, the set of all possible configurations of a system is modeled as a manifold, and this manifold's cotangent bundle describes the phase space of the system.
In mathematics, the name symplectic group can refer to two different, but closely related, collections of mathematical groups, denoted Sp(2n, F) and Sp(n) for positive integer n and field F (usually C or R). The latter is called the compact symplectic group and is also denoted by . Many authors prefer slightly different notations, usually differing by factors of 2. The notation used here is consistent with the size of the most common matrices which represent the groups. In Cartan's classification of the simple Lie algebras, the Lie algebra of the complex group Sp(2n, C) is denoted Cn, and Sp(n) is the compact real form of Sp(2n, C). Note that when we refer to the (compact) symplectic group it is implied that we are talking about the collection of (compact) symplectic groups, indexed by their dimension n.
Symplectic geometry is a branch of differential geometry and differential topology that studies symplectic manifolds; that is, differentiable manifolds equipped with a closed, nondegenerate 2-form. Symplectic geometry has its origins in the Hamiltonian formulation of classical mechanics where the phase space of certain classical systems takes on the structure of a symplectic manifold.
In mathematics and classical mechanics, the Poisson bracket is an important binary operation in Hamiltonian mechanics, playing a central role in Hamilton's equations of motion, which govern the time evolution of a Hamiltonian dynamical system. The Poisson bracket also distinguishes a certain class of coordinate transformations, called canonical transformations, which map canonical coordinate systems into canonical coordinate systems. A "canonical coordinate system" consists of canonical position and momentum variables that satisfy canonical Poisson bracket relations. The set of possible canonical transformations is always very rich. For instance, it is often possible to choose the Hamiltonian itself as one of the new canonical momentum coordinates.
In mathematics, contact geometry is the study of a geometric structure on smooth manifolds given by a hyperplane distribution in the tangent bundle satisfying a condition called 'complete non-integrability'. Equivalently, such a distribution may be given as the kernel of a differential one-form, and the non-integrability condition translates into a maximal non-degeneracy condition on the form. These conditions are opposite to two equivalent conditions for 'complete integrability' of a hyperplane distribution, i.e. that it be tangent to a codimension one foliation on the manifold, whose equivalence is the content of the Frobenius theorem.
In differential geometry, a field in mathematics, a Poisson manifold is a smooth manifold endowed with a Poisson structure. The notion of Poisson manifold generalises that of symplectic manifold, which in turn generalises the phase space from Hamiltonian mechanics.
In differential geometry, a G-structure on an n-manifold M, for a given structure group G, is a principal G-subbundle of the tangent frame bundle FM (or GL(M)) of M.
In mathematics and physics, a Hamiltonian vector field on a symplectic manifold is a vector field defined for any energy function or Hamiltonian. Named after the physicist and mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton, a Hamiltonian vector field is a geometric manifestation of Hamilton's equations in classical mechanics. The integral curves of a Hamiltonian vector field represent solutions to the equations of motion in the Hamiltonian form. The diffeomorphisms of a symplectic manifold arising from the flow of a Hamiltonian vector field are known as canonical transformations in physics and (Hamiltonian) symplectomorphisms in mathematics.
In mathematics, a differentiable manifold is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One may then apply ideas from calculus while working within the individual charts, since each chart lies within a vector space to which the usual rules of calculus apply. If the charts are suitably compatible, then computations done in one chart are valid in any other differentiable chart.
In mathematics, specifically in topology and geometry, a pseudoholomorphic curve is a smooth map from a Riemann surface into an almost complex manifold that satisfies the Cauchy–Riemann equation. Introduced in 1985 by Mikhail Gromov, pseudoholomorphic curves have since revolutionized the study of symplectic manifolds. In particular, they lead to the Gromov–Witten invariants and Floer homology, and play a prominent role in string theory.
In mathematics, Floer homology is a tool for studying symplectic geometry and low-dimensional topology. Floer homology is a novel invariant that arises as an infinite-dimensional analogue of finite-dimensional Morse homology. Andreas Floer introduced the first version of Floer homology, now called symplectic Floer homology, in his proof of the Arnold conjecture in symplectic geometry. Floer also developed a closely related theory for Lagrangian submanifolds of a symplectic manifold. A third construction, also due to Floer, associates homology groups to closed three-dimensional manifolds using the Yang–Mills functional. These constructions and their descendants play a fundamental role in current investigations into the topology of symplectic and contact manifolds as well as (smooth) three- and four-dimensional manifolds.
In mathematics, specifically in symplectic geometry, the momentum map is a tool associated with a Hamiltonian action of a Lie group on a symplectic manifold, used to construct conserved quantities for the action. The momentum map generalizes the classical notions of linear and angular momentum. It is an essential ingredient in various constructions of symplectic manifolds, including symplectic (Marsden–Weinstein) quotients, discussed below, and symplectic cuts and sums.
In the study of mathematics and especially differential geometry, fundamental vector fields are an instrument that describes the infinitesimal behaviour of a smooth Lie group action on a smooth manifold. Such vector fields find important applications in the study of Lie theory, symplectic geometry, and the study of Hamiltonian group actions.
In symplectic geometry, the spectral invariants are invariants defined for the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms of a symplectic manifold, which is closed related to Floer theory and Hofer geometry.
This is a glossary of properties and concepts in symplectic geometry in mathematics. The terms listed here cover the occurrences of symplectic geometry both in topology as well as in algebraic geometry. The glossary also includes notions from Hamiltonian geometry, Poisson geometry and geometric quantization.
In mathematics, and especially symplectic geometry, the Thomas–Yau conjecture asks for the existence of a stability condition, similar to those which appear in algebraic geometry, which guarantees the existence of a solution to the special Lagrangian equation inside a Hamiltonian isotopy class of Lagrangian submanifolds. In particular the conjecture contains two difficulties: first it asks what a suitable stability condition might be, and secondly if one can prove stability of an isotopy class if and only if it contains a special Lagrangian representative.
The Arnold conjecture, named after mathematician Vladimir Arnold, is a mathematical conjecture in the field of symplectic geometry, a branch of differential geometry.
The Conley conjecture, named after mathematician Charles Conley, is a mathematical conjecture in the field of symplectic geometry, a branch of differential geometry.