arXiv research

This paper investigates the relationship between a system of differential equations and the underlying geometry associated with it. The geometry of a surface determines shortest paths, or geodesics connecting nearby points, which are defined as the solutions to a pair of second-order differential equations: the Euler-L…

Develops second order infinitesimal structures on Teichmüller space.

Paper uses second-order differential geometry to study stochastic mechanics.

These are lecture notes of the Summer school on the geometry of differential equations held in Nordfjordeid, Norway in 1996. They cover geometric structures related to scalar second order ODEs, the construction of the associated Cartan connection, techniques for computing invariants of differential equations starting f…

We express the first jet bundle of curves in Euclidean space as homogeneous spaces associated to a Galilean-type group. Certain Cartan connections on a manifold with values in the Lie algebra of the Galilean group are characterized as geometries associated to systems of second order ordinary differential equations. We …

By using a certain second order differential equation, the notion of adapted coordinates on Finsler manifolds is defined and some classifications of complete Finsler manifolds are found. Some examples of Finsler metrics, with positive constant sectional curvature, not necessarily of Randers type nor projectively flat, …

We apply the Cartan equivalence method to the study of real analytic second order ODEs under the local real analytic diffeomorphism of $\C^2$ which are area-preserving. This enables us to give a characterization of the second order ODEs which are equivalent to $y^{\prime\prime}=0$ under such transformations. Moreover w…

A dynamical system on the total space of the fibre bundle of second order accelerations, $T^2M$, is defined as a third order vector field $S$ on $T^2M$, called semispray, which is mapped by the second order tangent structure into one of the Liouville vector field. For a regular Lagrangian of second order we prove that …

In this present paper, we study geometric structures of rank two prolongations of implicit second-order partial differential equations (PDEs) for two independent and one dependent variables and characterize the type of these PDEs by the topology of fibers of the rank two prolongations. Moreover, by using properties of …

In our previous works, we introduced, for each (super)manifold, a commutative algebra of densities. It is endowed with a natural invariant scalar product. In this paper, we study geometry of differential operators of second order on this algebra. In the more conventional language they correspond to certain operator pen…

The paper is mainly devoted to systematic developments and applications of geometric aspects of second-order variational analysis that are revolved around the concept of parabolic regularity of sets. This concept has been known in variational analysis for more than two decades while being largely underinvestigated. We …

The study extends Obata's theorem and classifies Finsler manifolds with transnormal functions.

We show how the tangent bundle decomposition generated by a system of ordinary differential equations may be generalized to the case of a system of second order PDEs `of connection type'. Whereas for ODEs the decomposition is intrinsic, for PDEs it is necessary to specify a closed 1-form on the manifold of independent …

Many equations of mathematical physics are described by differential polynomials, that is by polynomials in the derivatives of a certain number of functions. However, up to the knowledge of the author, differential algebra in a modern setting has never been applied to study the specific algebraic feature of such equati…

We discuss in which sense general metric measure spaces possess a first order differential structure. Building on this, we then see that on spaces with Ricci curvature bounded from below a second order calculus can be developed, permitting to define Hessian, covariant/exterior derivatives and Ricci curvature.

I consider the existence and structure of conservation laws for the general class of evolutionary scalar second-order differential equations with parabolic symbol. First I calculate the linearized characteristic cohomology for such equations. This provides an auxiliary differential equation satisfied by the conservatio…

The main purpose of this article is to introduce a comprehensive, unified theory of the geometry of all connections. We show that one can study a connection via a certain, closely associated second-order differential equation. One of the most important results is our extended Ambrose-Palais-Singer correspondence. We ex…

New geometries explain solutions to differential equations.

In the context of synthetic differential geometry, we study the Laplace operator an a Riemannian manifold. The main new aspect is a neighbourhood of the diagonal, smaller than the second neighbourhood usually required as support for second order differential operators. The new neighbourhood has the property that a func…

We address the problem of second order conformal deformation of spacelike surfaces in compactified Minkowski 4-space. We explain the construction of the exterior differential system of conformal deformations and discuss its general and singular solutions. In particular, we show that isothermic surfaces are singular sol…

Complex contact manifolds arise naturally in differential geometry, algebraic geometry and exterior differential systems. Their classification would answer an important question about holonomy groups. The geometry of such manifold $X$ is governed by the contact lines contained in $X$. These are related to the notion of…

Developed a theory of local convexity for second order differential equations on Lie algebroids.

Study finds unique radial solutions on manifolds using differential geometry and analysis.

Linear ODEs are solved by geodesics in hyperbolic geometry.

Equivalence of second order differential operators in vector bundles studied.

New geometric proof of convex function differentiability and approximation.

Solves second-order PDEs using quotients and differential invariants.

Smooth manifolds have been always understood intuitively as spaces with an affine geometry on the infinitesimal scale. In Synthetic Differential Geometry this can be made precise by showing that a smooth manifold carries a natural structure of an infinitesimally affine space. This structure is comprised of two pieces o…

Using the symmetry group theory of second order PDEs, one finds the symmetry group associated to Tzitzeica surfaces partial differential equation. One studies the inverse problem and one shows that the Tzitzeica surfaces PDE is an Euler-Lagrange equation. One determines the variational symmetry group of the associated …

To a system of second order ordinary differential equations (SODE) one can assign a canonical nonlinear connection that describes the geometry of the system. In this work we develop a geometric setting that allows us to assign a canonical nonlinear connection also to a system of higher order ordinary differential equat…

This lecture presents recent advances in the theory of errors propagation. We first explain in which cases the propagation of errors may be performed with a first order differential calculus or needs a second order differential calculus. Then we point out the link between error propagation and the concept of second ord…

Clarifies method of phase synchronization for decoupling linear differential equations.

Modeling of a wide class of physical phenomena, such as crystal growth and flame propagation, leads to tracking fronts moving with curvature-dependent speed. When the speed is the curvature this leads to one of the classical degenerate nonlinear second order differential equations on Euclidean space. One naturally wond…

Second-order methods improve differential privacy in convex optimization.

We use E. Cartan's method to solve the problem of equivalence of the second order ordinary differential equations with respect to the pseudogroup of point transformations.

Classifies scalar second-order PDEs with low-dimensional symmetry groups.

Geometry arising from two diffusion operators (smooth semi-elliptic, second order differential operators) on different spaces but intertwined by a smooth map is described. Particular cases arise from Riemannian submersions when the operators are Laplace-Beltrami operators, from equivariant operators on the total space …

We introduce new aspects in conformal geometry of some very natural second-order differential operators. These operators are termed shift operators. In the flat space, they are intertwining operators which are closely related to symmetry breaking differential operators. In the curved case, they are closely connected wi…

Our main aim is to present a geometrically meaningful formula for the fundamental solutions to a second order sub-elliptic differential equation and to the heat equation associated with a sub-elliptic operator in the sub-Riemannian geometry on the unit sphere $\mathbb S^3$. Our method is based on the Hamiltonian approa…

Study magnetic flows on 3D contact sub-Riemannian manifolds using Rumin complex.

Study reveals geometric context of second-order superintegrable systems.

Given a second order partial differential operator $L$ satisfying the strong Hörmander condition with corresponding heat semigroup $P_t$, we give two different stochastic representations of $dP_t f$ for a bounded smooth function $f$. We show that the first identity can be used to prove infinite lifetime of a diffusion …

In this paper we investigate the relations between semispray, nonlinear connection, dynamical covariant derivative and Jacobi endomorphism on Lie algebroids. Using these geometric structures, we study the symmetries of second order differential equations in the general framework of Lie algebroids.

Quantum vacuum energy (Casimir energy) is reviewed for a mathematical audience as a topic in spectral theory. Then some one-dimensional systems are solved exactly, in terms of closed classical paths and periodic orbits. The relations among local spectral densities, energy densities, global eigenvalue densities, and tot…

Reconstructs Riemannian geometry from diffusion properties.

We show that the local equivalence problem for second-order ordinary differential equations under point transformations is completely characterized by differential invariants of order at most 10 and that this upper bound is sharp. We also show that, modulo Cartan duality and point transformations, the Painlevé-I equati…

We solve the following problem: to describe in geometric terms all differential operators of the second order with a given principal symbol. Initially the operators act on scalar functions. Operator pencils acting on densities of arbitrary weights appear naturally in the course of study. We show that for the algebra of…

The motivation of this paper is to study a second order elliptic operator which appears naturally in Riemannian geometry, for instance in the study of hypersurfaces with constant $r$-mean curvature. We prove a generalized Bochner-type formula for such a kind of operators and as applications we obtain some sharp estimat…