Hill's formula

TL;DR

This paper generalizes Hill's formula to multidimensional systems, providing new theoretical tools for analyzing the stability and Morse index of periodic orbits in Lagrangian systems with symmetries.

Contribution

It introduces two multidimensional generalizations of Hill's formula for discrete and continuous Lagrangian systems, including cases with symmetries and reversibility.

Findings

Generalized Hill's formula for discrete Lagrangian systems.

Extended Hill's formula for continuous Lagrangian systems.

Analyzed the Morse index change under symmetry reduction.

Abstract

In his study of periodic orbits of the 3 body problem, Hill obtained a formula relating the characteristic polynomial of the monodromy matrix of a periodic orbit and an infinite determinant of the Hessian of the action functional. A mathematically correct definition of the Hill determinant and a proof of Hill's formula were obtained later by Poincar\'e. We give two multidimensional generalizations of Hill's formula: to discrete Lagrangian systems (symplectic twist maps) and continuous Lagrangian systems. We discuss additional aspects which appear in the presence of symmetries or reversibility. We also study the change of the Morse index of a periodic trajectory after the reduction of order in a system with symmetries. Applications are given to the problem of stability of periodic orbits.