Thesis (doctoral)--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 2006 / Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60).

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In this thesis we investigate the existence and stability of periodic solutions of Hamiltonian systems with a discrete symmetry. The global existence of periodic motions can be proven using the classical techniques of the calculus of variations; our particular interest is in how the stability type of the solutions thus obtained can be determined analytically using solely the variational problem and the symmetries of the system -- we make no use of numerical or perturbation techniques. Instead, we use a method introduced in [41] in the context of a special case of the three-body problem. Using techniques from symplectic geometry, and specifically the Maslov index for curves of Lagrangian subspaces along the minimizing trajectories, we verify conditions which preclude the existence of eigenvalues of the monodromy matrix on the unit circle. We study the applicability of this method in two specific cases. Firstly, we consider another special case from celestial mechanics: the hip-hop solutions of the 2N-body problem. This is a family of Z_2-symmetric, periodic orbits which arise as collision-free minimizers of the Lagrangian action on a space of symmetric loops [14, 53]. Following a symplectic reduction, it is shown that the hip-hop solutions are brake orbits which are generically hyperbolic on the reduced energy-momentum surface. Secondly we consider a class of natural Hamiltonian systems of two degrees of freedom with a homogeneous potential function. The associated action functional is unbounded above and below on the function space of symmetric curves, but saddle points can be located by minimization subject to a certain natural constraint of a type first considered by Nehari [37, 38]. Using the direct method of the calculus of variations, we prove the existence of symmetric solutions of both prescribed period and prescribed energy. In the latter case, we employ a variational principle of van Groesen [55] based upon a modification of the Jacobi functional, which has not been widely used in the literature. We then demonstrate that the (constrained) minimizers are again hyperbolic brake orbits; this is the first time the method has been applied to solutions which are not globally minimizing. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mathematics & Statistics) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-25 10:47:53.257

This dissertation consists of two distinct parts, the first concerning S^1-equivariant cohomology of loop spaces and the second concerning stability in partial differential equations. In the first part of this dissertation, we study the existence of S^1-equivariant characteristic classes on certain natural infinite rank bundles over the loop space LM of a manifold M. We discuss the different S^1-equivariant cohomology theories in the literature and clarify their relationships. We attempt to use S^1-equivariant Chern-Weil techniques to construct S^1-equivariant characteristic classes. The main result is the construction of a sequence of S^1-equivariant characteristic classes on the total space of the bundles, but these classes do not descend to the base LM. In addition, we identify a class of bundles for which a single S^1-equivariant characteristic class does admit an S^1-equivariant Chern-Weil construction. In the second part of this dissertation, we study the Maslov index as a tool to analyze stability of steady state solutions to a reaction-diffusion equation in one spatial dimension. We show that the path of unstable subspaces associated to this equation is governed by a matrix Riccati equation whose solution S develops singularities when changes in the Maslov index occur. Our main result proves that at these singularities the change in Maslov index equals the number of eigenvalues of S that increase to +∞ minus the number of eigenvalues that decrease to -∞.

Symplectic geometry can be traced back to Lagrange and his work on celestial mechanics and has since then been a very active field in mathematics, partly because of the applications it offers but also because of the beauty of the objects it deals with. I this thesis we begin by the simplest fact of symplectic geometry. We give the definition of a symplectic space and of the symplectic group, Sp(n). A symplectic space is the data of an even-dimensional space and of a form which satisfies a number of properties. Having done this we give a definition of the Lagrangian Grassmannian Lag(n) which consists of all n-dimensional subspaces of the symplectic space on which the symplectic form vanishes. We carefully study the topology of these spaces and their universal coverings. It is of great interest to know how the elements of the Lagrangian Grassmannian intersect each other. A lot of efforts have therefore been made to construct intersection indices for elements of Lag(n). They have gone under many names but have had a sole purpose, namely to give us a way to determine how these elements intersect. We show how these elements are constructed and extend the definition to paths of elements of Lag(n) and Sp(n). We end this thesis by extending the definition of an index defined by Conley and Zehnder bu using the properties of the Leray index. Their index plays a significant role in the theory of periodic Hamiltonian orbit.

Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Mariana Rodrigues da Silveira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Matemática , Santo André, 2018.