Nonholonomic systems on Lie algebroids

Abstract

This paper presents a geometric description on Lie algebroids of Lagrangian systems subject to nonholonomic constraints. The Lie algebroid framework provides a natural generalization of classical tangent bundle geometry. We define the notion of nonholonomically constrained system, and characterize regularity conditions that guarantee the dynamics of the system can be obtained as a suitable projection of the unconstrained dynamics. The proposed novel formalism provides new insights into the geometry of nonholonomic systems, and allows us to treat in a unified way a variety of situations, including systems with symmetry, morphisms and reduction, and nonlinearly constrained systems. Various examples illustrate the results.