πŸ“• Node [[symplectic]]
πŸ“„ symplectic.md by @karlicoss

Table of Contents

[2018-11-15] ok, so trying to consolidate everything

  1. https://sbseminar.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/what-is-a-symplectic-manifold-really/
    TODO how to link in org mode?? e.g. citations?

here they try to deduce phase space from some reasonable mathematical assumptions (time evolution, energy conservation, flows)

  1. The Geometry of Hamiltonian Mechanics

So, we have a configuration space N, which is a manifold. Typically, it’s the set of positions, more generally, it’s the set of all possible ‘snapshots’ of the system at a certain time.

(TODO how does that correspond to wavefunctions? how is position special? e.g. momentum is not any worse right?).

Then take (M = T^* N) (cotangent bundle) – it’s the phase space, and itself a manifold.

TODO twice the dimensions?

NOTE: ugh, looks like they are confusing p and q in [1], typically q is position/state and p is monentum. So I’m using the more common notation.

Some coordinates in M are position coordinates, some are momentum coordinates. (xq, xp). xq corresponds to N, xp corresponds to T* N at xq?

Ok, consider time derivative.
Time derivative of xq is a vector on N [1]. Note: ok, sort of makes sense.. I guess by vector they mean a point from tangent space? E.g. consider 2-sphere, time derivative is indeed a vector on that sphere.
Time derivative of xp is a covector on N [1]. TODO: this still makes sense I guess? Not really.. I guess my confusion has to do with not understanding what’s a thing from T* N?

digression:
consider 1-sphere S (radius 1). Its configurations X are angles phi from 0 to 2 pi. If you consider tangent space though, it’s gonna have all possible velocities from -inf to inf.
ok. but what about cotangent space?? | TODO what does it have to do with 1-forms
is it just the space of all {mul by v | v in (-inf, inf)}. And then what??

so time derivative of position is a vector on N. Agree. I guess we’re using the fact that N is a manifold, thus locally it’s a vector space.
time derivative of momentum is a covector on N. Well, that’s a bit more subtle. I mean, it kinda makes sense, but it’s a different space than T*x N. Right?

suppose we have a functional F(t): N -> R, and we want to compute its derivative. By definition, F’(t) = (F(t+dt) - F(t)) / dt. But F(x) = <f, x>. Then, F’(t) = (<f(t + dt), x> - <f(t), x>) / dt = <(f(t + dt) - f(t))/dt, x>. So, it’s dual to f’, which is a time derivative of a vector, thus a covector. Ugh, ok.

Again, following [1]. Consider a function E: M -> R.
Its differential w.r.t. space coordinates is a covector, and w.r.t momentum coordinates is a vector. well, ok

dE/d(q,p) = (dE/dq1.. dE/dqn, dE/dp1…de/dpn)
Ok, I suppose you could call dE/dq a covector. why though?… what does that mean? I guess that if we plug

TODO shit. don’t think I understand that bit really intuitively… but whatever

Ok. so we established that
dxq/dt and dE/dxp are both vectors
dxp/dt and dE/dxq and both covectors.
so that?? why the minus sign?

[2018-11-10] ok, trying to break down this thing http://math.mit.edu/~cohn/Thoughts/symplectic.html

the idea is to generalise phase space mechanics to abstract (not necessarily eucledian spaces)

we want a method to turn hamiltonian function H to a vector field V, then dynamics is the flow across integral curves of this field

requirements:

  1. depend only on dH (global shift doesn’t matter)
  2. linear dependence on dH

he claims that tensor field, a section of Hom(T*M, TM), or Hom(TM, T*M) = (TM -> T*M) = T*M tensor T*M does that

NOTE: vector bundle – vector space, depending on parameter (point)
NOTE: tensor field by definition is some section on tensor bundle. mmm.
NOTE: vector fields on manifold – a section of tangent bundle. Okay, sort of makes sense. although; you could have said that it’s a mapping F: (x: X) -> T(x)
NOTE: huh, so f: M -> R, df: {m: M} -> T(M) -> R. TODO wonder if it’s interesting that number of arguments is increasing?
in general: f: M -> N, df: TM -> TN, meaning that df: {exists m: M} (T(m) -> T(f(m)))
TODO shit, I need agda here?…

jesus, they just don’t have nice notation

tensor field is F: (x: X) -> T(x) ; T(x) is the space of all tensors at x. and that’s it!

note from wikipedia: if f: M -> N, then df: TM -> TN

ok, so if H: M -> R; then dH: TM -> R = T*M
NOTE: when we think of dH, we consider it as a section, sort of with implicit {m: M} argument.

hmm, what is the tangent space of point on R. still R right? Yes, because it’s basically space of ‘velocities’
so dH is a covector field, ok https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B8%D1%84%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0#%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%8B >

I thought about it longer and realized what was going on.
You get equations like Hamilton's whenever a system *extremizes something subject to constraints*.   A moving particle minimizes action; a box of gas maximizes entropy.
Read how it works:

Legendre transformation - Wikipedia

Legendre transformation, named after Adrien-Marie Legendre, is an involutive transformation on the real-valued convex functions

[2018-11-10] What moment map is (as a physical concept) in sympletic geometry - Mathematics Stack Exchange

https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2447269/what-moment-map-is-as-a-physical-concept-in-sympletic-geometry

[2018-11-10] classical mechanics - Intuition about Momentum Maps - Physics Stack Exchange

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/203653/intuition-about-momentum-maps

[2018-11-14] sg.symplectic geometry - How to see the Phase Space of a Physical System as the Cotangent Bundle - MathOverflow

https://mathoverflow.net/questions/16460/how-to-see-the-phase-space-of-a-physical-system-as-the-cotangent-bundle/16462#16462

[2018-11-19] Legendre transformation - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendre_transformation#Further_properties >

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