Metriplectic dynamical systems on contact manifolds

Abstract

Flows on symplectic, Poisson, contact, and metriplectic manifolds are reviewed in order to describe our main result, which is to associate a natural metriplectic dynamical system on the general one-jet bundle $J^1N=T^*N\times \mathbb{R}$, which is at once a (trivial) Poisson manifold and a contact manifold. Unlike the standard contact Hamiltonian system, our metriplectic system is thermodynamically consistent in that $$\dot{H} = 0 \quad\mathrm{and}\quad \dot{S} \geq 0$$ under the flow. Here $H$ is the Hamiltonian, while $S$ is the entropy function which is nothing but the $\mathbb{R}$ coordinate function of $J^1N$. As an example we derive the Duffing equation (autonomous and nonautonomous versions) either as a contact Hamiltonian system or as a metriplectic system. We show that for both systems the Duffing equation is a subsystem of three dimensional systems that contain a thermodynamic component, a form that facilitates asymptotic stability analysis of the relevant equilibrium state.