The role of pseudo-hypersurfaces in non-holonomic motion

Abstract

The geometry of hypersurfaces is generalized to pseudo-hypersurfaces, which are defined by Pfaff equations. The general methods are then applied to modeling the kinematics of motion constrained by a single linear, non-holonomic constraint. They are then applied to the example of a charge moving in an electromagnetic field, and the Lorentz equation of motion is shown to represent a geodesic that is constrained to lie in a pseudo-hypersurface that is defined by the potential 1-form.