The free rigid body dynamics: generalized versus classic

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the normal forms of a general quadratic Hamiltonian system defined on the dual of the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{o}(K)$ of real $K$ - skew - symmetric matrices, where $K$ is an arbitrary $3\times 3$ real symmetric matrix. A consequence of the main results is that any first-order autonomous three-dimensional differential equation possessing two independent quadratic constants of motion which admits a positive/negative definite linear combination, is affinely equivalent to the classical "relaxed" free rigid body dynamics with linear controls.