Variational Lie derivative and cohomology classes

Abstract

We relate cohomology defined by a system of local Lagrangian with the cohomology class of the system of local variational Lie derivative, which is in turn a local variational problem; we show that the latter cohomology class is zero, since the variational Lie derivative `trivializes' cohomology classes defined by variational forms. As a consequence, conservation laws associated with symmetries ensuring the vanishing of the second variational derivative of a local variational problem are globally defined.