Special Session 42: Hamiltonian Dynamics and Celestial Mechanics

Dynamics and Symmetry: Minimizing brake orbits
Daniel Offin
Queen`s University
Canada
Co-Author(s):    Henry Kavle
Abstract:
The computation of the Conley-Zehnder index for periodic brake orbits of fixed energy E in classical mechanical systems can be resolved by decomposing the symplectic space of Jacobi fields along geodesic chords parameterized by Jacobi arclength, joining separated points on the Hill`s boundary. Our result gives this decomposition in terms of orthogonal Jacobi fields along the extended geodesic. In this talk, we will discuss properties of minimizing brake orbits.