Integral representation for bracket-generating multi-flows

TL;DR

This paper derives an exact integral representation for the flow of iterated Lie brackets of vector fields, extending previous asymptotic formulas and potentially enabling analysis of nonsmooth vector fields.

Contribution

It generalizes the integral formula for Lie brackets to iterated brackets of multiple vector fields, providing a foundation for future extensions to nonsmooth cases.

Findings

Proves integral representation for iterated brackets of vector fields.

Improves upon asymptotic formulas with exact integral formulas.

Lays groundwork for analyzing nonsmooth vector fields.

Abstract

If $f_1,f_2$ are smooth vector fields on an open subset of an Euclidean space and $[f_1,f_2]$ is their Lie bracket, the asymptotic formula $$\Psi_{[f_1,f_2]}(t_1,t_2)(x) - x =t_1t_2 [f_1,f_2](x) +o(t_1t_2),$$ where we have set $ \Psi_{[f_1,f_2]}(t_1,t_2)(x) := \exp(-t_2f_2)\circ\exp(-t_1f_1)\circ\exp(t_2f_2)\circ\exp(t_1f_1)(x)$, is valid for all $t_1,t_2$ small enough. In fact, the integral, exact formula \begin{equation}\label{abstractform} \Psi_{[f_1,f_2]}(t_1,t_2)(x) - x = \int_0^{t_1}\int_0^{t_2}[f_1,f_2]^{(s_2,s_1)} (\Psi(t_1,s_2)(x))ds_1\,ds_2 , \end{equation} where $ [f_1,f_2]^{(s_2,s_1)}(y) := D\Big(\exp(s_1f_1)\circ \exp(s_2f_2{{)}}\Big)^{-1}\cdot [f_1,f_2](\exp(s_1f_1)\circ \exp(s_2f_2){(y)}), $ with ${{y = \Psi(t_1,s_2)(x)}}$ has also been proven. Of course the integral formula can be regarded as an improvement of the asymptotic formula. In this paper we show that an integral representation holds true for any iterated bracket made from elements of a family of vector fields ${f_1,\dots,f_{{k}}}$. In perspective, these integral representations might lie at the basis for extensions of asymptotic formulas involving nonsmooth vector fields.