Lagrangian reduction of discrete mechanical systems by stages

Abstract

In this work we introduce a category of discrete Lagrange--Poincare systems LP_d and study some of its properties. In particular, we show that the discrete mechanical systems and the discrete mechanical systems obtained by the Lagrangian reduction of symmetric discrete mechanical systems are objects in LP_d. We introduce a notion of symmetry groups for objects of LP_d and introduce a reduction procedure that is closed in the category LP_d. Furthermore, under some conditions, we show that the reduction in two steps (first by a closed normal subgroup of the symmetry group and then by the residual symmetry group) is isomorphic in LP_d to the reduction by the full symmetry group.