Heinz Hanßmann
Dynamics of Hamiltonian Systems
(492K, PostScript)

ABSTRACT.  Hamiltonian systems are a class of dynamical
systems which can be characterised by preservation of a
symplectic form.  This allows to write down the equations
of motion in terms of a single function, the Hamiltonian
function.  They were conceived in the $19$th century to
study physical systems varying from optics to frictionless
mechanics in a unified way.  This description turned out
to be particularly efficient for symmetry reduction and
perturbation analysis.