A geometric characterization of certain first integrals for nonholonomic systems with symmetries

Abstract

We study the existence of first integrals in nonholonomic systems with symmetry. First we define the concept of M-cotangent lift of a vector field on a manifold Q in order to unify the works [Balseiro P., Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 214 (2014), 453-501, arXiv:1301.1091], [Fassò F., Ramos A., Sansonetto N., Regul. Chaotic Dyn. 12 (2007), 579- 588], and [Fassò F., Giacobbe A., Sansonetto N., Rep. Math. Phys. 62 (2008), 345-367]. Second, we study gauge symmetries and gauge momenta, in the cases in which there are the symmetries that satisfy the so-called vertical symmetry condition. Under such condition we can predict the number of linearly independent first integrals (that are gauge momenta). We illustrate the theory with two examples.