Hamiltonian pseudo-representations

Abstract

The question studied here is the behavior of the Poisson bracket under C^0-perturbations. In this purpose, we introduce the notion of pseudo-representation and prove that for a normed Lie algebra, it converges to a representation. An unexpected consequence of this result is that for many non-closed symplectic manifolds (including cotangent bundles), the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms (with no assumptions on supports) has no C^{-1} bi-invariant metric. Our methods also provide a new proof of Gromov-Eliashberg Theorem, it is to say that the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms is C^0-closed in the group of all diffeomorphisms.