The difference variational bicomplex and multisymplectic systems
Provides a foundational geometric framework for finite difference variational problems and multisymplectic integrators, benefiting researchers in numerical analysis and geometric mechanics.
The paper constructs the difference variational bicomplex as a framework for difference equations, enabling coordinate-free derivations of Euler-Lagrange equations and Noether's theorem, and extends it to multisymplectic integrators on non-uniform meshes.
The difference variational bicomplex, which is the natural setting for systems of difference equations, is constructed and used to examine the geometric and algebraic properties of various systems. Exactness of the bicomplex gives a coordinate-free setting for finite difference variational problems, Euler--Lagrange equations and Noether's theorem. We also examine the connection between the condition for the existence of a Hamiltonian and the multisymplecticity of systems of partial difference equations. Furthermore, we define difference multimomentum maps of multisymplectic systems, which yield their conservation laws. To conclude, we adapt the variational bicomplex to multisymplectic integrators on a mesh that is logically rectangular. By scaling horizontal forms and difference operators according to the local step sizes, all of the results derived earlier can be applied, whether or not the mesh is uniform.