Geodesics on deformed spheres asymptotically described using the Funk transform

Abstract

We consider geodesics on the surfaces obtained by weak deformations of the standard 2D-sphere. The dynamics of a particle on the surface can be asymptotically described by the averaged evolution of the particle's angular momentum. It is shown that the system describing this evolution has a Hamiltonian, which is obtained by applying the Funk transform to the function defining the deviation of the surface from the standard sphere. This system has the 2D-sphere as its phase space, so it is integrable and its trajectories admit of topological description in terms of its phase portrait on the sphere.