Higher order first integrals of autonomous dynamical systems

Abstract

A theorem is derived which determines higher order first integrals of autonomous holonomic dynamical systems in a general space, provided the collineations and the Killing tensors -- up to the order of the first integral -- of the kinetic metric, defined by the kinetic energy of the system, can be computed. The theorem is applied in the case of Newtonian autonomous conservative dynamical systems of two degrees of freedom, where known and new integrable and superintegrable potentials that admit cubic first integrals are determined.