Luis García-Naranjo

We introduce a class of examples which provide an affine generalization of the nonholonomic problem of a convex body that rolls without slipping on the plane. These examples are constructed by taking as given two vector fields, one on the surface of the body and another on the plane, which specify the velocity of the contact point. We investigate dynamical aspects of the system such as existence of first integrals, smooth invariant measure, integrability and chaotic behavior, giving special attention to special shapes of the convex body and specific choices of the vector fields for which the affine nonholonomic constraints may be physically realized.

We present some results on the absence of a wide class of invariant measures for dynamical systems possessing attractors. We then consider a generalization of the classical nonholonomic Suslov problem which shows how previous investigations of existence of invariant measures for nonholonomic systems should necessarily be extended beyond the class of measures with strictly positive $C^1$ densities if one wishes to determine dynamical obstructions to the presence of attractors.

We consider the $n$-dimensional Chaplygin sphere under the assumption that the mass distribution of the sphere is axisymmetric. We prove that, for initial conditions whose angular momentum about the contact point is vertical, the dynamics is quasi-periodic. For $n=4$ we perform the reduction by the associated $\mathrm{SO}(3)$ symmetry and show that the reduced system is integrable by the Euler–Jacobi theorem.

We derive the reduced equations of motion for an articulated $n$-trailer vehicle that moves under its own inertia on the plane. We show that the energy level surfaces in the reduced space are $(n + 1)$-tori and we classify the equilibria within them, determining their stability. A thorough description of the dynamics is given in the case $n = 1$.

It is known that the reduced equations for an axially symmetric homogeneous ellipsoid that rolls without slipping on the plane possess a smooth invariant measure. We show that such an invariant measure does not exist in the case when all of the semi-axes of the ellipsoid have different length.

We present a systematic geometric construction of reduced almost Poisson brackets for nonholonomic systems on Lie groups with invariant kinetic energy metric and constraints. Our construction is of geometric interest in itself and is useful in the Hamiltonization of some classical examples of nonholonomic mechanical systems.