Related papers: The Geometry of the Painlev\'e paradox
We show that the strongly minimal second Painlev\'e equation (y" = 2y^3+ty+\alpha) is geometrically trivial, that is we show that if y_1,...,y_n are distinct solutions such that y_1,y_1',y_2,y_2',...,y_n,y_n' are algebraically dependent…
Despite the huge number of research into the three-body problem in physics and mathematics, the study of this problem still remains relevant both from the point of view of its broad application and taking into account its fundamental…
A new important relation between fluid mechanics and differential geometry is established. We study smooth steady solutions to the Euler equations with the additional property: the velocity vector is orthogonal to the gradient of the…
A 3D pendulum consists of a rigid body, supported at a fixed pivot, with three rotational degrees of freedom. The pendulum is acted on by a gravitational force. Symmetry assumptions are shown to lead to the planar 1D pendulum and to the…
Comparing and recognizing metrics can be extraordinarily difficult because of the group of diffeomorphisms. Two metrics, that could even be the same, could look completely different in different coordinates. This is the gauge problem. The…
The paper is about a Painlev\'e III equation and its relation to isomonodromic families of vector bundles on P^1 with meromorphic connections. The purpose of the paper is two-fold: it offers a conceptual language for the geometrical objects…
A two-dimensional body, exhibiting a slight rotational movement, moves in a rarefied medium of particles which collide with it in a perfectly elastic way. In previously realized investigations by the first two authors, Plakhov & Gouveia…
We consider $L^2$ minimizing geodesics along the group of volume preserving maps $SDiff(D)$ of a given 3-dimensional domain $D$. The corresponding curves describe the motion of an ideal incompressible fluid inside $D$ and are (formally)…
We determine the general form of the potential of the problem of motion of a rigid body about a fixed point, which allows the angular velocity to remain permanently in a principal plane of inertia of the body. Explicit solution of the…
Many physical systems are described by partial differential equations (PDEs). Determinism then requires the Cauchy problem to be well-posed. Even when the Cauchy problem is well-posed for generic Cauchy data, there may exist characteristic…
This expository article written for the Notices of the American Mathematical Society provides an overview of transcendental functions arising as solutions of the discrete Painlev\'e equations, for which the developments of the last two…
As shown by Johannes Kepler in 1609, in the two-body problem, the shape of the orbit, a given ellipse, and a given non-vanishing constant angular momentum determines the motion of the planet completely. Even in the three-body problem, in…
A family of random variables $\mathbf{X}(s)$, depending on a real parameter $s>-\frac{1}{2}$, appears in the asymptotics of the joint moments of characteristic polynomials of random unitary matrices and their derivatives, in the ergodic…
The first discrete Painlev\'e equation (dPI), which appears in a model of quantum gravity, is an integrable nonlinear nonautonomous difference equation which yields the well known first Painlev\'e equation (PI) in a continuum limit. The…
Why is space 3-dimensional? The first answer to this question, entirely based on Physics, was given by Ehrenfest, in 1917, who showed that the stability requirement for $n$-dimensional two-body planetary system very strongly constrains…
Due to Poinsot's theorem, the motion of a rigid body about a fixed point is represented as rolling without slipping of the moving hodograph of the angular velocity over the fixed one. If the moving hodograph is a closed curve, visualization…
This thesis consists of two parts, connected by one central theme: the dynamics of the "shape of space". The first part of the thesis concerns the construction of a theory of gravity dynamically equivalent to general relativity (GR) in 3+1…
The ``geometry'', in the sense of the classical differential geometry of smooth manifolds (CDG), is put under scrutiny from the point of view of Abstract Differential Geometry (ADG), along with resulting, thereby, potential physical…
The Lie point symmetries of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that are candidates for having the Painlev\'e property are explored for ODEs of order $n =2, \dots ,5$. Among the 6 ODEs identifying the Painlev\'e transcendents only…
It is well known that gravity in 2+1 dimensions can be recast as Chern-Simons theory, with the gauge group given by the local isometry group, depending on the metric signature and the cosmological constant. Point particles are added into…