Action integral 2026-10-07
Near a regular Lagrangian torus, choose a one-form with and a basis of fibre cycles . The action has differential of a smooth map , where is the corresponding joint-flow period. Nonsingularity of the period matrix makes these actions local coordinates transverse to the tori.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 20 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The Arnold-Liouville theorem concerns a connected compact component of a regular common level of commuting independent smooth functions on a -dimensional symplectic manifold. It states that is a Lagrangian torus, and that a neighbourhood of has action-angle variablesin which every depends only on . If or, more generally, , its Hamiltonian flow satisfiesAngles have period here. The theorem is local near this regular compact component; it does not assert globally defined action-angle variables across singular levels or over an entire base with monodromy.
First, has dimension of a manifold by the submersion theorem. The Hamiltonian vector fields are independent, tangent to , and commute. They span . Moreoverso is a Lagrangian submanifold. Compactness makes these restricted vector fields complete. Their joint flow is an -action on . Its orbits are open because the fields span , so connectedness gives one orbit. The stabilizer of a point is discrete by the inverse function theorem, andCompactness forces to be a full-rank Euclidean lattice: otherwise an unbounded linear coordinate transverse to its span would descend to the quotient. Thus is an -torus.
Next choose a small ball of regular values near and a neighbourhood of this component which is a product family of compact tori . This local trivialization follows directly by choosing transverse vector fields with and lifting short radial paths in the base; compactness of gives a uniform neighbourhood where their flows exist. Hence deformation retracts onto . The commuting joint flows on nearby fibres have smoothly varying full-rank Hamiltonian period lattices. A basis of their periods can be chosen smoothly on this small ball: continue the return equations from a basis at the central fibre, using their nonsingular vertical flow derivatives and the implicit function theorem. No global choice of lattice basis is needed.
Because and retracts onto , its closed symplectic form is exact on . Choose a one-form with . Let be the smoothly continued cycles represented by the period basis and define the action integralsFor a transverse variation of the fibre, differentiating a cycle integral and using Cartan's magic formula eliminates the integral of the exact term. With the cycle parametrized by the joint-flow time , this givesThusThe period matrix is nonsingular, so gives coordinates on the base. The corresponding Hamiltonian vector fields satisfyTheir time- flows return along the basis cycles. They commute because each is a function of the commuting . Consequently they give a free torus action on .
Choose a section over the action-coordinate ball and use this torus action to define angles . Since , the symplectic form takes the formThe closed base two-form is exact on the ball: write , , by the Poincare lemma. Changing the angular origins by removes this term, since . This completes the construction of action-angle variables. The functions are constant on the fibres, so are functions of alone, and Hamilton's equations give the claimed straight-line motion. This proves both the topological and symplectic parts of the Arnold-Liouville theorem.