The Lagrangian-Hamiltonian Formalism for Higher Order Field Theories

Abstract

We generalize the Lagrangian-Hamiltonian formalism of Skinner and Rusk to higher order field theories on fiber bundles. As a byproduct we solve the long standing problem of defining, in a coordinate free manner, a Hamiltonian formalism for higher order Lagrangian field theories. Namely, our formalism does only depend on the action functional and, therefore, unlike previously proposed ones, is free from any relevant ambiguity.