Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/iii/paper-17/4/a/solution

Let be the unit tangent bundle projection. Write for the geodesic flow generator and for the vertical vector field of a surface unit tangent bundle, positively rotating toward . The acceleration prescribed in the question changes only this velocity angle, so the surface thermostat generator is
It never vanishes: . Also and are linearly independent, since .
The vertical Maslov cycle of a surface thermostat is
There is exactly one such plane in each fibre, so is the image of a smooth section. A two-plane containing corresponds to a line in the rank-two quotient ; thus is a projective bundle with fibre . Its total dimension is four and the cycle has dimension three, making it a smooth hypersurface. In this two-dimensional transverse space the Maslov cycle means the projective line meeting the distinguished vertical line, which here is just that distinguished line itself in each fibre.

New to topics? Read the docs here!