Poisson manifold

A Poisson manifold is a smooth manifold with a bilinear bracket on smooth functions that is antisymmetric, obeys the Jacobi identity, and is a derivation in each argument. Its Poisson bivector may have nonconstant rank, unlike the inverse of a symplectic form.

A uniform magnetic field defines a constant Poisson bivector on momentum space by the displayed components. For the Hamiltonian $E(\mathbf{p})$ and convention $\dot{f}=\{f,E\}$, it gives $\dot{\mathbf{p}}=e\nabla E\times \mathbf{B}$. Constancy makes every term in the coordinate Jacobi identity vanish. If $e\mathbf{B}\ne 0$, the symplectic leaves are the planes $\mathbf{B}\cdot \mathbf{p}=c$, and energy is conserved along the flow. The whole three-dimensional momentum space is not symplectic, and an energy surface need not itself be a Poisson submanifold.

The symplectic foliation of a Poisson manifold consists of maximal connected integral manifolds of its Hamiltonian distribution. Each leaf has a nondegenerate closed two-form inverse to the restricted Poisson structure, with compatible sign conventions. Ranks can differ between leaves, making this a singular foliation. Hamiltonian flows remain within a leaf, and Casimir functions of a Poisson manifold are constant along every leaf; a Casimir level set need not be a single leaf.

A smooth map $r:M\to N$ between Poisson manifolds is a Poisson map when $\{f\circ r,g\circ r{\}}_M=\{f,g{\}}_N\circ r$ for all smooth functions on $N$. When a Lie group acts by Poisson automorphisms and the quotient is smooth, brackets of invariant functions descend and make the quotient projection Poisson. The quotient can be Poisson without being symplectic.

A Poisson tensor is a smooth bivector field defining $\{f,g\}=\pi (df,dg)$ whose bracket obeys the Jacobi identity. In coordinates, ${\pi }^{i\ell }{\partial }_{\ell }{\pi }^{jk}+{\pi }^{j\ell }{\partial }_{\ell }{\pi }^{ki}+{\pi }^{k\ell }{\partial }_{\ell }{\pi }^{ij}=0$. Its Hamiltonian distribution integrates into symplectic leaves, even though its rank can vary across the manifold. The tensor specifies a bracket without requiring a globally nondegenerate symplectic form.

A Poisson structure is an antisymmetric smooth bivector field whose induced function bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity. In coordinates its condition is the vanishing cyclic sum of ${\omega }^{dc}{\partial }_d{\omega }^{ab}$. Applying Jacobi to coordinate functions proves necessity; expanding arbitrary brackets cancels the second derivatives and proves sufficiency. A function bracket-commuting with every function is a Casimir function of a Poisson manifold.

For field functionals, a Poisson operator $J$ is an operator whose displayed pairing of variational derivatives defines a Poisson bracket. It must be skew under the integral pairing and satisfy the functional Jacobi identity. A constant skew differential operator, such as $J={\partial }_x$ with periodic or vanishing boundary conditions, gives the simplest examples. The Hamiltonian evolution is $u_t=J(\delta H/\delta u)$.

Two Poisson structures are compatible when every linear combination ${\Pi }_1+\lambda {\Pi }_2$ is a Poisson structure. This family is a Poisson pencil. In terms of the Schouten-Nijenhuis bracket, compatibility means $[{\Pi }_1,{\Pi }_2]=0$, in addition to the two individual Jacobi identities. Constant Poisson bivectors are compatible. Over a real manifold, complex parameter values refer to the complexification of its function algebra.

Start from a Casimir function $H_0$ of the first Poisson structure. Whenever possible, choose $H_n$ whose first Hamiltonian vector field is minus the second Hamiltonian vector field of $H_{n-1}$. A sequence extending indefinitely is the coefficient sequence of a formal Casimir function for the Poisson pencil. Its functions pairwise commute for both Poisson brackets. Existence at each stage is an additional solvability requirement; compatibility alone does not guarantee it.

The next step of a Lenard-Magri recursion requires $-{\Pi }_{2}d{H}_{n-1}$ to be a Hamiltonian vector field for ${\Pi }_1$. It must be tangent to the symplectic leaves, and its contraction with the leaf symplectic form must have a global potential, with a compatible smooth extension between leaves. Even the first step may fail: on ${\mathbb{R}}^2$, take ${\Pi }_1=0$, ${\Pi }_2={\partial }_x\wedge {\partial }_y$ and $H_0=x$. Both Poisson structures are compatible, but ${\Pi }_{1}d{H}_1=-{\Pi }_{2}dx$ cannot hold, because its left side is zero and its right side is nonzero.

For a Lenard-Magri recursion, antisymmetry shifts an index: $\{H_i,H_j{\}}_1=\{H_{i-1},H_{j+1}{\}}_1$ when $i\ge 1$. Repeating reaches $\{H_0,H_{i+j}{\}}_1=0$, because $H_0$ is a Casimir function. The recursion then gives $\{H_i,H_j{\}}_2=-\{H_{i+1},H_j{\}}_1=0$. This proof applies to every finite initial portion for the indices that can be shifted inside it, and to all pairs in an infinite sequence.

The dual space ${\mathfrak{g}}^{\ast }$ of a finite-dimensional Lie algebra has this canonical Poisson bracket. For a basis $v^i$, linear coordinates $x^i(\ell )=\ell (v^i)$ give $\{x^i,x^j\}=c_k^{ij}{x}^k$. The Lie algebra's Jacobi identity is precisely the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector. This construction is intrinsic on the dual space; writing the same formula in an arbitrary manifold chart does not by itself provide a compatible global atlas.

A smooth antisymmetric contravariant two-tensor defines a biderivation $\{F,G\}=\omega (dF,dG)$. It is a Poisson bivector when this bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity. Its rank may vary; where it is nondegenerate it inverts to a symplectic form. The coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector makes the integrability constraint explicit.

A nondegenerate Poisson bivector inverts to a closed differential form of degree two. Differentiating $S=P^{-1}$ gives ${\partial }_{d}S=-S({\partial }_{d}P)S$. Contracting the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector with three copies of $S$ yields ${\partial }_i{S}_{jk}+{\partial }_j{S}_{ki}+{\partial }_k{S}_{ij}=0$, which is precisely closure of the resulting symplectic form. An overall sign in the inverse convention does not change closure.

The Jacobi identity for a Poisson bivector reduces to the displayed cyclic identity in every local chart. Necessity follows by applying the bracket to coordinate functions. Sufficiency follows because the second-derivative terms in an arbitrary Jacobiator cancel by antisymmetry, leaving this coefficient multiplying first derivatives of the three functions.

A Casimir function $C$ Poisson-commutes with every smooth function, $\{C,f\}=0$. Its regular level sets are unions of symplectic leaves.

A symplectic leaf is a maximal connected immersed submanifold on which the Poisson bivector has constant full rank and therefore inverts to a symplectic form.

The rotational Lie-Poisson bracket on ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ isIts Casimir is $x_1^2+x_2^2+x_3^2$, and every sphere centered at the origin is a two-dimensional symplectic leaf on which $SO(3)$ acts symplectically.