Action-minimizing Methods in Hamiltonian Dynamics

Alfonso Sorrentino is associate professor of mathematics at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" in Italy. He holds a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University.

Preface vii 1 Tonelli Lagrangians and Hamiltonians on Compact Manifolds 1 1.1 Lagrangian Point of View 1 1.2 Hamiltonian Point of View 4 2 From KAM Theory to Aubry-Mather Theory 8 2.1 Action-Minimizing Properties of Measures and Orbits on KAM Tori 8 3 Action-Minimizing Invariant Measures for Tonelli Lagrangians 18 3.1 Action-Minimizing Measures and Mather Sets 18 3.2 Mather Measures and Rotation Vectors 24 3.3 Mather's a-and B-Functions 28 3.4 The Symplectic Invariance of Mather Sets 35 3.5 An Example: The Simple Pendulum (Part I) 39 3.6 Holonomic Measures and Generic Properties of Tonelli Lagrangians 45 4 Action-Minimizing Curves for Tonelli Lagrangians 48 4.1 Global Action-Minimizing Curves: Aubry and Mane Sets 48 4.2 Some Topological and Symplectic Properties of the Aubry and Mane Sets 66 4.3 An Example: The Simple Pendulum (Part II) 68 4.4 Mather's Approach: Peierls' Barrier 71 5 The Hamilton-Jacobi Equation and Weak KAM Theory 76 5.1 Weak Solutions and Subsolutions of Hamilton-Jacobi and Fathi's Weak KAM theory 76 5.2 Regularity of Critical Subsolutions 85 5.3 Non-Wandering Points of the Mane Set 87 Appendices A On the Existence of Invariant Lagrangian Graphs 89 A.1 Symplectic Geometry of the Phase Space 89 A.2 Existence and Nonexistence of Invariant Lagrangian Graphs 91 B Schwartzman Asymptotic Cycle and Dynamics 97 B.1 Schwartzman Asymptotic Cycle 97 B.2 Dynamical Properties 99 Bibliography 107 Index 113