Conformal bi-Hamiltonian structure and integrability of an interacting Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator
Abstract
We investigate an interacting Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator with a Landau-Ginzburg type interaction term and analyse its classical dynamics from a geometric and numerical point of view. We show that the resulting fourth-order equation of motion admits a conformal bi-Hamiltonian formulation, possesses a non-trivial set of Lie symmetries and we demonstrate the existence of bounded and regular trajectories in representative parameter regimes. By establishing an explicit correspondence with an integrable generalised H\'enon-Heiles system, we show that the interacting higher-derivative dynamics inherits the integrability properties of the latter. This connection allows us to construct a second conserved Hamiltonian, to clarify the geometric origin of separability, and to obtain explicit classical solutions in terms of elliptic functions. Our results provide a concrete example of an interacting higher-derivative system for which integrability and periodic classical solutions can be established in a fully explicit manner.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.12858,
title = {Conformal bi-Hamiltonian structure and integrability of an interacting Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator},
author = {Alexander Felski and Andreas Fring},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.12858},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
19 pages Latex, 3 figures