Robert I. McLachlan

Robert I. McLachlan, Ari Stern

In this paper, we prove necessary and sufficient conditions for a hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method to satisfy a multisymplectic conservation law, when applied to a canonical Hamiltonian system of partial differential equations. We show that these conditions are satisfied by the "hybridized" versions of several of the most commonly-used finite element methods, including mixed, nonconforming, and discontinuous Galerkin methods. (Interestingly, for the continuous Galerkin method in dimension greater than one, we show that multisymplecticity only holds in a weaker sense.) Consequently, these general-purpose finite element methods may be used for structure-preserving discretization (or semidiscretization) of canonical Hamiltonian systems of ODEs or PDEs. This establishes multisymplecticity for a large class of arbitrarily-high-order methods on unstructured meshes.

Elena Celledoni, Robert I. McLachlan, David I. McLaren et al.

Applying Kahan's discretization to the reduced Nahm equations, we obtain two classes of integrable mappings.

Elena Celledoni, Robert I. McLachlan, David I. McLaren et al.

A novel integration method for quadratic vector fields was introduced by Kahan in 1993. Subsequently, it was shown that Kahan's method preserves a (modified) measure and energy when applied to quadratic Hamiltonian vector fields. Here we generalize Kahan's method to cubic resp. higher degree polynomial vector fields and show that the resulting discretization also preserves modified versions of the measure and energy when applied to cubic resp. higher degree polynomial Hamiltonian vector fields.

Robert I. McLachlan, Klas Modin, Olivier Verdier

Classical Hamiltonian spin systems are continuous dynamical systems on the symplectic phase space $(S^2)^n$. In this paper we investigate the underlying geometry of a time discretization scheme for classical Hamiltonian spin systems called the spherical midpoint method. As it turns out, this method displays a range of interesting geometrical features, that yield insights and sets out general strategies for geometric time discretizations of Hamiltonian systems on non-canonical symplectic manifolds. In particular, our study provides two new, completely geometric proofs that the discrete-time spin systems obtained by the spherical midpoint method preserve symplecticity. The study follows two paths. First, we introduce an extended version of the Hopf fibration to show that the spherical midpoint method can be seen as originating from the classical midpoint method on $T^*\mathbf{R}^{2n}$ for a collective Hamiltonian. Symplecticity is then a direct, geometric consequence. Second, we propose a new discretization scheme on Riemannian manifolds called the Riemannian midpoint method. We determine its properties with respect to isometries and Riemannian submersions and, as a special case, we show that the spherical midpoint method is of this type for a non-Euclidean metric. In combination with Kähler geometry, this provides another geometric proof of symplecticity.

Robert I. McLachlan, Klas Modin, Hans Munthe-Kaas et al.

Butcher series, also called B-series, are a type of expansion, fundamental in the analysis of numerical integration. Numerical methods that can be expanded in B-series are defined in all dimensions, so they correspond to \emph{sequences of maps}---one map for each dimension. A long-standing problem has been to characterise those sequences of maps that arise from B-series. This problem is solved here: we prove that a sequence of smooth maps between vector fields on affine spaces has a B-series expansion if and only if it is \emph{affine equivariant}, meaning it respects all affine maps between affine spaces.

Robert I. McLachlan, Klas Modin, Olivier Verdier

We present a symplectic integrator, based on the canonical midpoint rule, for classical spin systems in which each spin is a unit vector in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Unlike splitting methods, it is defined for all Hamiltonians, and is $O(3)$-equivariant. It is a rare example of a generating function for symplectic maps of a noncanonical phase space. It yields an integrable discretization of the reduced motion of a free rigid body.

Robert I. McLachlan, Klas Modin, Olivier Verdier et al.

A geometric analysis of the Shake and Rattle methods for constrained Hamiltonian problems is carried out. The study reveals the underlying differential geometric foundation of the two methods, and the exact relation between them. In addition, the geometric insight naturally generalises Shake and Rattle to allow for a strictly larger class of constrained Hamiltonian systems than in the classical setting. In order for Shake and Rattle to be well defined, two basic assumptions are needed. First, a nondegeneracy assumption, which is a condition on the Hamiltonian, i.e., on the dynamics of the system. Second, a coisotropy assumption, which is a condition on the geometry of the constrained phase space. Non-trivial examples of systems fulfilling, and failing to fulfill, these assumptions are given.