Topological Classification Of Integrable Systems

This collection contains new results in the topological classification of integrable Hamiltonian systems. Recently, this subject has been applied to interesting problems in geometry and topology, classical mechanics, mathematical physics, and computer geometry. This new stage of development of the theory is reflected in this collection. Among the topics covered are: classification of some types of singularities of the moment map (including non-Bott types), computation of topological invariants for integrable systems describing various problems in mechanics and mathematical physics, construction of a theory of bordisms of integrable systems, and solution of some problems of symplectic topology arising naturally within this theory. A list of unsolved problems allows young mathematicians to become quickly involved in this active area of research.

Integrable Hamiltonian systems have been of growing interest over the past 30 years and represent one of the most intriguing and mysterious classes of dynamical systems. This book explores the topology of integrable systems and the general theory underlying their qualitative properties, singularites, and topological invariants. The authors,

This volume comprises selected papers on the subject of the topology of integrable systems theory which studies their qualitative properties, singularities and topological invariants. The aim of this volume is to develop the classification theory for integrable systems with two degrees of freedom which would allow for distinguishing such systems up to two natural equivalence relations. The first one is the equivalence of the associated foliations into Liouville tori. The second is the usual orbital equivalence. Also, general methods of classification theory are applied to the classical integrable problems in rigid body dynamics. In addition, integrable geodesic flows on two-dimensional surfaces are analysed from the viewpoint of the topology of integrable systems.

Some of the most active practitioners in the field of integrable systems have been asked to describe what they think of as the problems and results which seem to be most interesting and important now and are likely to influence future directions. The papers in this collection, representing their authors' responses, offer a broad panorama of the subject as it enters the 1990's.

A major international conference was held at the University of Tokyo in July 2000. It brought together scientists in all of the areas influenced by integrable systems. This book is the second of three collections of expository and research articles. This volume focuses on topology and physics.

The articles in this volume are based on lectures from a program on integrable systems and differential geometry held at Taiwan's National Center for Theoretical Sciences. As is well-known, for many soliton equations, the solutions have interpretations as differential geometric objects, and thereby techniques of soliton equations have been successfully applied to the study of geometric problems. The article by Burstall gives a beautiful exposition on isothermic surfaces and theirrelations to integrable systems, and the two articles by Guest give an introduction to quantum cohomology, carry out explicit computations of the quantum cohomology of flag manifolds and Hirzebruch surfaces, and give a survey of Givental's quantum differential equations. The article by Heintze, Liu,and Olmos is on the theory of isoparametric submanifolds in an arbitrary Riemannian manifold, which is related to the n-wave equation when the ambient manifold is Euclidean. Mukai-Hidano and Ohnita present a survey on the moduli space of Yang-Mills-Higgs equations on Riemann surfaces. The article by Terng and Uhlenbeck explains the gauge equivalence of the matrix non-linear Schrödinger equation, the Schrödinger flow on Grassmanian, and the Heisenberg Feromagnetic model. The bookprovides an introduction to integrable systems and their relation to differential geometry. It is suitable for advanced graduate students and research mathematicians. Information for our distributors: Titles in this series are copublished with International Press, Cambridge, MA.