Survey of Eight Modern Methods of Hamiltonian Mechanics

Abstract

Here we describe eight new methods, arisen in the last 60 years, to study solutions of a Hamiltonian system with n degrees of freedom. The first six of them are intended for systems with small parameters or without them. The methods allow to find families of periodic solutions and families of invariant n-dimensional tori by means of analytic computation near a stationary solution, near a periodic solution and near an invariant torus, using the corresponding normal form of a Hamiltonian. Then we can continue the founded families by means of numerical computation. In a Hamiltonian system without parameters, only periodic solutions and invariant n-dimensional tori form one-parameter families. The last two methods are intended for systems with not small parameters, which do not depend on time. They allow computing sets of parameters, which guarantee the stability of some solutions for linear (method seven) and nonlinear (method eight) systems. We do not consider chaotic behaviors, but only regular ones.