This Maple worksheet accompanies the paper:
Paulo D. F. Gouveia, Delfim F. M. Torres,
"Computing ODE Symmetries as Abnormal Variational Symmetries",
Nonlinear Analysis (2008), doi:10.1016/j.na.2008.10.009.
Computing ODE symmetries as abnormal variational symmetries
Paulo D. F. Gouveia* pgouveia@ipb.pt
Delfim F. M. Torres** delfim@ua.pt
*Bragan?a Polytechnic Institute 5301-854 Bragan?a, Portugal
**University of Aveiro 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Abstract
We give a new computational method to obtain symmetries of ordinary differential equations. The proposed approach appears as an extension of a recent algorithm to compute variational symmetries of optimal control problems [P.D.F. Gouveia, D.F.M. Torres, Automatic computation of conservation laws in the calculus of variations and optimal control, Comput. Methods Appl. Math. 5 (4) (2005) 387-409], and is based on the resolution of a first order linear PDE that arises as a necessary and sufficient condition of invariance for abnormal optimal control problems. A computer algebra procedure is developed, which permits one to obtain ODE symmetries by the proposed method. Examples are given, and results compared with those obtained by previous available methods.
Mathematics Subject Classification 2000: 34-04; 49-04; 34C14; 49K15.
Keywords: Symmetries, variational symmetries, dynamic symmetries, ODEs, computer algebra systems, optimal control, abnormality.
Introduction
Sophus Lie was the first to introduce the use of symmetries into the study of differential equations, Emmy Noether the first to recognize the important role of symmetries in the calculus of variations. Nowadays, all the computer algebra systems which deal with differential equations provide several tools to help the user with the analysis of Lie symmetries. Recently, the authors developed a computer algebra package for the automatic computation of Noether variational symmetries in the calculus of variations and optimal control [5], now available as part of the Maple Application Center at http://www.maplesoft.com/applications/app_center_view.aspx?AID=1983.
The omnipresent tools for Lie symmetries provide a great help for the search of solutions of ODEs, their classification, order reduction, proof of integrability, or in the construction of first integrals. From the mathematical point of view, a ODE symmetry is described by a group of transformations that keeps the ordinary differential equation invariant. Depending on the type of transformations one is considering, different symmetries are obtained. An important class of symmetries is obtained considering a one-parameter family of transformations which form a local Lie group. Those transformations are often represented by a set of functions known as the infinitesimal generators. From the practical point of view, the determination of the infinitesimal generators that define a symmetry for a given ODE is, in general, a complex task [6, 11]. To address the problem, we follow a different approach.
We propose a new method for computing symmetries of ODEs by using a Noetherian perspective. Making use of our previous algorithm [5], that has shown up good results for the computation of Noether variational symmetries of problems of the calculus of variations and optimal control, we look to an ODE as being the control system of an optimal control problem. Then, we obtain symmetries for the ODE by computing the abnormal variational symmetries of the associated optimal control problem.
The paper is organized as follows. In ?2 the necessary concepts associated with variational symmetries in optimal control are reviewed. The new method for computing symmetries of ODEs is explained in ?3. The method is illustrated in ?4, where we compute symmetries for three distinct ODEs and compare the results with the ones obtained by the standard procedures available in Maple. We end the paper with Section 5 of conclusions and final comments.The definitions of the new Maple procedure that implements our method are given in Appendix.
The Maple package
The procedure odeSymm, described in the paper and illustrated in the following section, together with some necessary technical routines, have been implemented for the computer algebra system Maple 11.
odeSymm
Computes the infinitesimal generators which define the symmetries of the ODE, or system of ODEs, specified in the input. As explained in the paper (section 3), this procedure involves the resolution of a system of partial differential equations. We have used the Maple solver pdsolve, using, as preferential method, the separation of the variables by sum.
Output:
Syntax:
Input:
Definition:
Technical routines
Essentially, the first three routines, reduzConst, levantamento and convertSums, are used to transform in one constant each sum of constants not repeated in a set of algebraic expressions. The constants in Maple notation are converted to a more usual mathematical notation.
The others two routines, split and levantamentoCn, are used to divide a set of infinitesimal generatores into uncoupled subsets.
reduzConst
levantamento
convertSums
split
levantamentoCn
Auxiliary routine
(Routine of our package of the Calculus of Variations [4], neccessary to run the Axample 3 of this worksheet)
Construct the system of Euler-Lagrange equations of a higher-order problem of the Calculus of Variations with several dependent variables.
Illustrative Examples
In order to show the functionality and the usefulness of our new procedure odeSymm, we consider three concrete problems found in the literature. All the examples were carried out with Maple version 11 on a 1.4GHz 512MB RAM Pentium Centrino. The running time of procedure odeSymm is indicated, for each example, in seconds.
Example 1 (Kamke?s ODE 120)
We begin with a first order ODE found in Kamke?s book [7]:
To obtain symmetries of the equation we use our Maple procedure odeSymm with the additional parameter hint=noint. This means that we will use the default method of resolution of PDEs of the Maple solver pdsolve. If the optional parameter hint is not used (see Examples 2 and 3 below), our procedure odeSymm uses the method of separation of variables. We obtain the following infinitesimal generators (0.72 s):
One can test the validity of the obtained symmetries with the symtest command of the DEtools Maple package:
The symtest confirm that the infinitesimal generators leave the given ODE invariant, i.e., the generators obtained by our method give indeed a symmetry to Kamke?s ODE 120. It is interesting to remark that, without the knowledge of the computed symmetries, the ODE Maple solver dsolve is not able to integrate the ODE:
However, when one gives to the Maple solver the infinitesimal generators found by our method, the ODE is correctly solved:
It is also interesting to note that our method is able to find one symmetry that is different from the ones obtained using the standard methods of the literature. The Maple system provides nine different algorithms to compute symmetries of ODEs through the command symgen of the DEtools package. All the available schemes for determining the infinitesimal generators ? option way=all ? are not able to identify our pair of infinitesimals :
Example 2 (Damped Harmonic Oscillator)
We consider a harmonic oscillator with restoring force −kx, emersed in a liquid in such a way that the motion of the mass m is damped by a force proportional to its velocity. Using Newton?s second law one obtains, as the equation of motion, the following second order differential equation [9, pp. 432?434]:
The symmetries for this equation are easily obtained with our Maple procedure odeSymm (1.21 s)
One can confirm that these infinitesimals represent valid symmetries for the differential equation:
Note that the output of our odeSymm procedure includes a dynamical symmetry: the derivative of the dependent variable is present in the second pair of obtained infinitesimal generators.
Example 3 (Kepler?s problem)
We now consider the Kepler?s problem: a problem of the calculus of variations ? see [14, p. 217]. In this case the Lagrangian depends on two dependent variables and :
, with .
We will use the proposed method to determine symmetries for the corresponding Euler-Lagrange differential equation. The Euler-Lagrange equation is trivially obtained using our package of the calculus of variations [4, Example 5.2]:
In this case, the Euler-Lagrange equation is a system of two second order ODEs. Our odeSymm procedure is able to determine symmetries for systems of differential equations as well (13.32 s):
It is worth to mention that this example can not be handled by the algorithms available in Maple. Indeed, the Maple command symgen that looks for a symmetry generator for a given ODE is not able to deal with more than one dependent variable.
Conclusions
We have used the CAS Maple to define a new computational procedure that determines, in an automatic way, symmetries of ODEs. The automatic calculation of symmetries is a subject much studied under the theory of differential equations, with many results and applications in many different areas. Our main novelty is the presentation of a new algorithm, alternative to existing ones, which looks to symmetries of ODEs as particular cases of Noether-variational symmetries. As explained in the paper (?3), our algorithm involves the resolution of a first order, homogeneous, and linear PDE, which is the abnormal case of the necessary and sufficient condition of invariance for problems of optimal control studied in connection with Noether?s theorem [5, 12]. Interesting points of the proposed method are: (i) it is based on a new approach to the subject ? in particular, it is different from all the nine alternative algorithms available in Maple; (ii) allows us to get dynamic symmetries for ODEs of any order; (iii) allows to determine symmetries for systems of ODEs, when the analog simgen Maple command of the DEtools package can only obtain solutions for a single ODE.
References
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