Symplectic Manifolds / Geometry  

In General > s.a. symplectic vector space.
* History: Symplectic geometry arose from physics problems, as the n-body problem was studied by Poincaré; Now it underlies our understanding of classical and quantum mechanics, and it is fruitful in other areas of mathematics (knot theory, number theory, etc); V Arnold has suggested the symplectization of most mathematical concepts.

Presymplectic Structure on a Manifold
* Idea: A manifold with a closed, but possibly degenerate, 2-form ; Can occur, e.g., if one comes from a TQ by a degenerate Legendre transformation, i.e., if 2L/vivj is not invertible (we then have to add constraint terms to H).
@ References: Künzle JMP(72) [spinning particle example]; Gotay et al JMP(78) [and constraints]; Cariñena et al JMP(85) [canonical transformations]; Dubrovin et al IJMPA(93) [Poisson brackets from action]; Saavedra et al JMP(01)ht/00 [evolution and phase space structure].

Almost Symplectic Structure
$ Def: An n-manifold M has an almost symplectic (or Hamiltonian) structure if there exists an everywhere non-degenerate 2-form on it; Equivalently, if its frame bundle is reducible to an Sp(n, R)-bundle.
* Necessary conditions: Even dimension n, orientable M; if M is compact, H2(M, R) 0.
* Special case: If the 2-form is closed, we have a manifold with a symplectic (or Hamiltonian) structure.

Symplectic Structure on a Manifold > s.a. Gromov-Witten Invariants; poisson structure.
$ Def: A pair (, ) of a differentiable manifold and a closed non-degenerate 2-form on .
* Remark: The fact that the form is closed guarantees the local existence of bases such that assumes the form "dp dq" and of a symplectic potential , = d, and the Jacobi identity for the Poisson brackets; Non-degeneracy guarantees the existence of the inverse, to form Poisson brackets and Hamiltonian vector fields.
* Darboux's theorem: If is a symplectic form on a Banach manifold P, about any x P there is a local chart such that = constant; Corollary: If P is finite-dimensional, then it is even (2n)-dimensional and there are local canonical coordinates (xi, yi), i = 1, ..., n, such that = i dxi dyi.
* Non-squeezing theorem: The symplectic camel can pass through the symplectic needle only in 2D (1985, Gromov).
* Example: Given any manifold M, T*M is an even-dimensional manifold; A canonical choice is

= pi dqi ,    = d = dpi dqi .

* Necessary conditions: Even dimension n, orientable M; If M is compact, H2(M, R) 0.
* Poisson brackets: Defined by {f, g}:= ab a f b g = Xfa a g = X_f g.
@ Darboux's theorem: Moser TAMS(65); Weinstein BAMS(69), AiM(71); Lang 72; Marsden PAMS(72).

Related Concepts and Structure > s.a. group types [metaplectic]; Momentum Map; Polarization.
* Volume element: On a symplectic manifold, it is given by Omega = (–1)n/2 (n/n!).
* Hamiltonian vector fields: Every function f on defines a vector field Xf by Xfa:= ab b f.
* Symmetry reduction: Reduction procedures can based on the standard momentum map (symplectic or Marsden–Weinstein reduction) or on generalized distributions (the optimal momentum map and optimal reduction); In general yields a stratified structure.
@ Symmetry reduction: Ortega & Ratiu LMP(04) [rev], RPMP(06) [stratified structure]; Butterfield phy/05-in.
@ Moduli space of symplectic structures: Fricke et al DG&A(05) [pseudo-Riemannian metric].
@ Connection: Ghaboussi JMP(93) [symplectic form as connection]; > s.a. deformation quantization [Hitchin's connection]; Star Product.

References > s.a. generalized symplectic structure; hamiltonian systems; symmetry; symplectic structures in physics.
@ I: Stewart ThSc(90)may.
@ III, short: in Hermann 70 [geometrical meaning]; Weinstein BAMS(81); in Ashtekar 88.
@ General: Godbillon 69; Souriau 70; Weinstein 77; Aldaya & Azcárraga RNC(80); Guillemin & Sternberg 84; Fomenko 88; Lucey & Newman JMP(88); Slawianowski 91.
@ Infinite-dimensional: in Lang 72; Chernoff & Marsden 74; in Marsden 74; in Choquet-Bruhat et al 82, VII.A.2; Schmid 87.
@ Generating functions: Ozorio de Almeida PRS(90).
@ Special cases: in Souriau 70 [non cotangent bundle]; Sharipov m.DG/01, m.DG/01, m.DG/01 [on Riemannian manifold].
@ Quantization: Emmrich & Weinstein ht/93 [Fedosov deformation]; Donin qa/95/IJMPA.
@ Special emphasis: Vaisman 87 [characteristic classes]; McDuff & Salamon 95, Arnold JMP(00) [topology].
@ Special topics: Schleich et al FP(88) [phase space volume]; Bates in(90) [exotic]; Xia CMP(96) [symplectic diffeomorphisms]; Joyce AGAG(04)m.DG/02, AGAG(04)m.DG/02 [Lagrangian submanifolds]; Weinstein m.SG/02-in [momentum maps]; Golovnev & Ushakov a0710 [non-exact symplectic forms].


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