Prolongations vs. Tulczyjew triples in Geometric Mechanics

Abstract

In the scientific literature there are basically two schools of formulating Lagrangian (or Hamiltonian) mechanics in the (Lie) algebroid setting: in terms of prolongations and in terms of Tulczyjew triples. Despite the fact that in both approaches we describe the same phenomena, so far no comparison between prolongations and Tulczyjew triples was made. In this note we aim to fill this gap. More precisely, we will strip the prolongation approach to uncover the Tulczyjew triple reality hidden inside, thus proving that the latter approach is a more basic one.