Tulczyjew triples: from statics to field theory

Abstract

We propose a geometric approach to dynamical equations of physics, based on the idea of the Tulczyjew triple. We show the evolution of these concepts, starting with the roots lying in the variational calculus for statics, through Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, and concluding with Tulczyjew triples for classical field theories, illustrated with a numer of important examples.