A momentum map is a dual incarnation of a Hamiltonian action of a Lie group (or Lie algebra) on a symplectic manifold.
An action of a Lie group on a symplectic manifold by (Hamiltonian) symplectomorphisms corresponds infinitesimally to a Lie algebra homomorphism from the Lie algebra to the Hamiltonian vector fields on . If this lifts to a coherent choice of Hamiltonians, hence to a Lie algebra homomorphism to the Poisson bracket, then, by dualization, this is equivalently a Poisson manifold homomorphism of the form
This is called the momentum map (or moment map) of the Hamiltonian action. : Moment map is a misnomer and physically incorrect. It is an erroneous translation of the French notion application moment. See this mathoverflow question for the history of the name.
The name derives from the special and historically first case of angular momentum in the dynamics of rigid bodies, see Examples - Angular momentum below.
The Preliminaries below review some basics of Hamiltonian vector fields. The definition of the momentum map itself is below in Hamiltonian action and the momentum map.
This section briefly reviews the notion of Hamiltonian vector fields on a symplectic manifold
The basic setup is the following: Let be a symplectic manifold with a Hamiltonian action of a Lie group . In particular that means that there is an action via symplectomorphisms (diffeomorphisms such that ). A vector field is symplectic if the corresponding flow preserves (again by pullbacks) . The symplectic vector fields form a Lie subalgebra of the Lie algebra of all smooth vector fields on with respect to the Lie bracket.
By the Cartan homotopy formula and closedness
where denotes the Lie derivative. Therefore a vector field is symplectic iff for some function , usually called Hamiltonian (function) for . Here is determined by up to a locally constant function. Such is called the Hamiltonian vector field corresponding to . The Poisson structure on is the bracket on functions may be given by
where there is a Lie bracket of vector fields on the right hand side.
For a connected symplectic manifold, there is an exact sequence of Lie algebras
See at Hamiltonian vector field – Relation to Poisson bracket.
Let be a symplectic manifold and let be a Lie algebra. Write for the Poisson bracket Lie algebra underlying the corresponding Poisson algebra.
A Hamiltonian action of on is a Lie algebra homomorphism
The corresponding function
to the dual vector space of , defined by
is the corresponding momentum map.
If one writes the evaluation pairing as
then the equation characterizing in def. reads for all and
This is the way it is often written in the literature.
Notice that this in turn means that
The following are equivalent
the linear map underlying in def. is Lie algebra homomorphism;
its dual is a Poisson manifold homomorphism with respect to the Lie-Poisson structure on .
This follows by just unwinding the definitions.
In one direction, suppose that is a Lie homomorphism. Since the Lie-Poisson structure is fixed on linear functions on , it is sufficient to check that preserves the Poisson bracket on these. Consider hence two Lie algebra elements regarded as linear functions on . Noticing that on such linear functions the Lie-Poisson structure is given by the Lie bracket we have, using remark
and hence preserves the Poisson brackets.
Conversely, suppose that is a Poisson homomorphism. Then
and so is a Lie homomorphism.
Consider the action of SO(3) on , which induces a Hamiltonian action on via
where is a column vector and is a row vector. Then the momentum map for this Hamiltonian action is
where
If we choose as an orthonormal basis of and then identify , then , which is the angular momentum.
The values of the momentum map for each given Lie algebra generator may be regarded as the conserved currents given by a Hamiltonian Noether theorem.
Specifically if is a symplectic manifold equipped with a “time evolution” Hamiltonian action given by a Hamiltonian and if is some Hamiltonian action with momentum for which preserves the Hamiltonian in that the Poisson bracket vanishes
then of course also the time evolution of the momentum vanishes
See at Noether theorem – In terms of momentum maps/Hamiltonian Noether theorem.
In the context of constrained mechanics the components of the momentum map (as the Lie algebra argument varies) are called first class constraints. See symplectic reduction for more.
The momentum map is a crucial ingredient in the construction of Marsden–Weinstein symplectic quotients and in other variants of symplectic reduction.
The concept is originally due to Jean-Marie Souriau.
Lecture notes and surveys include
Joel W. Robbin, The moment map, an exposition, pdf
Nicole Berline, Michèle Vergne, Hamiltonian manifolds and moment maps (pdf)
Original articles include
Victor Guillemin, Shlomo Sternberg, Geometric asymptotics, AMS (1977) (online)
Michael Atiyah, Convexity and commuting Hamiltonians, Bull. London
Math. Soc. 14 (1982), 1-15.
Michael Atiyah, Raoul Bott, The moment map and equivariant cohomology, Topology, Vol 23, No. 1 (1984) (pdf)
Further developments are in
M. Spera, On a generalized uncertainty principle, coherent states and the moment map, J. of Geometry and Physics 12 (1993) 165-182, MR94m:58097, doi
Ctirad Klimčik, Pavol Ševera, T-duality and the moment map, IHES/P/96/70, hep-th/9610198; Poisson-Lie T-duality: open strings and D-branes, CERN-TH/95-339. Phys.Lett. B376 (1996) 82-89, hep-th/9512124
A. Cannas da Silva, Alan Weinstein, Geometric models for noncommutative algebras, Berkeley Math. Lec. Notes Series, AMS 1999, (pdf)
Friedrich Knop, Automorphisms of multiplicity free Hamiltonian manifolds, arxiv/1002.4256
W. Crawley-Boevey, Geometry of the moment map for representations of quivers, Compositio Math. 126 (2001), no. 3, 257-293 doi MR1834739
See also
Momentum maps in higher geometry, Higher geometric prequantum theory, are discussed in
Reviews include for instance
Relation to equivariant cohomology:
Anton Alekseev, Anton Malkin, Eckhard Meinrenken, Lie group valued moment maps, J. Differential Geom. Volume 48, Number 3 (1998), 445-495. euclid, MR1638045
Eckhard Meinrenken, Lectures on group-valued moment maps and Verlinde formulas, 35 pages, January 2012, pdf
The relation between momentum maps and conserved currents/Noether's theorem is amplied for instance in
Discussion in diffeology:
Since momentum maps generalize energy-functionals, they provide a covariant formulation of thermodynamics:
Jean-Marie Souriau, Thermodynamique et géométrie, Lecture Notes in Math. 676 (1978), 369–397 (scan)
Patrick Iglesias-Zemmour, Jean-Marie Souriau, Heat, cold and Geometry, in: M. Cahen et al (eds.) Differential geometry and mathematical physics, 37-68, D. Reidel 1983 (web, pdf, doi:978-94-009-7022-9_5)
Jean-Marie Souriau, chapter IV “Statistical mechanics” of Structure of dynamical systems. A symplectic view of physics . Translated from the French by C. H. Cushman-de Vries. Translation edited and with a preface by R. H. Cushman and G. M. Tuynman. Progress in Mathematics, 149. Birkhäuser Boston, Inc., Boston, MA, 1997
Patrick Iglesias-Zemmour, Essai de «thermodynamique rationnelle» des milieux continus, Annales de l’I.H.P. Physique théorique, Volume 34 (1981) no. 1, p. 1-24 (numdam:AIHPA_1981__34_1_1_0)
Jean-Marie Souriau, Mécanique statistique, groupes de Lie et cosmologie, In Colloques int. du CNRS; numéro 237; Aix-en-Provence, France, 1974; pp. 24–28, 59–113. English translation by F. Barbaresco, April, 2020. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/42630654/Statistical_Mechanics_Lie_Group_and_Cosmology_
1_st_part_Symplectic_Model_of_Statistical_Mechanics(access on 20 April 2020)
Review includes
Charles-Michel Marle, From tools in symplectic and Poisson geometry to Souriau’s theories of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, Entropy 2016, 18(10), 370 (arXiv:1608.00103)
Charles-Michel Marle, On Gibbs states of mechanical systems with symmetries, arXiv:2012.00582v2 math.DG
F. Barbaresco, F. Gay-Balmaz, Lie group cohomology and (multi)symplectic integrators: new geometric tools for Lie group machine learning based on Souriau geometric statistical mechanics, Entropy 22 (2020) 498 link
Koszul, J.-L., Introduction to symplectic geometry, SPRINGER, 2019
F. Barbaresco (2021) Archetypal Model of Entropy by Poisson Cohomology as Invariant Casimir Function in Coadjoint Representation and Geometric Fourier Heat Equation. In: Nielsen F., Barbaresco F. (eds) Geometric Science of Information. GSI 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12829. Springer
F. Barbaresco, Koszul lecture related to geometric and analytic mechanics, Souriau’s Lie group thermodynamics and information geometry, Info. Geo. 4, 245–262 (2021)
F. Barbaresco, (2021) Jean-Marie Souriau’s Symplectic Model of Statistical Physics: Seminal Papers on Lie Groups Thermodynamics - Quod Erat Demonstrandum. In: Barbaresco F., Nielsen F. (eds) Geometric Structures of Statistical Physics, Information Geometry, and Learning. SPIGL 2020. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, vol 361. Springer
CM Marle, Gibbs states on symplectic manifolds with symmetries, In: F. Nielsen, F. Barbaresco (eds) Geometric Science of Information. GSI 2021. Lec. Notes in Comp. Sci. 12829. Springer 2021
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