6533b7d7fe1ef96bd1268172

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Optimal control and Clairaut-Liouville metrics with applications

subject

description

The work of this thesis is about the study of the conjugate and cut loci of 2D riemannian or almost-riemannian metrics. We take the point of view of optimal control to apply the Pontryagin Maximum Principle in the purpose of characterize the extremals of the problem considered.We use geometric, numerical and integrability methods to study some Liouville and Clairaut-Liouville metrics on the sphere. In the degenerate case of revolution, the study of the ellipsoid uses geometric methods to fix the cut locus and the nature of the conjugate locus in the oblate and prolate cases. In the general case, extremals will have two distinct type of comportment which correspond to those observed in the revolution case, and are separated by those which pass by umbilical points. The numerical methods are used to find quickly the Jacobi's Last Geometric Statement : the cut locus is a segment and the conjugate locus has exactly four cusps.The study of an almost-riemannian metric comes from a quantum control problem in which the aim is to transfer in a minimal time the state of one spin through an Ising chain of three spins. After reduction, we obtain a metric with a second first integral so it can be written in the Liouville normal form, which leads us to the equations of geodesics. Outside the particular case of Grushin, of which the caustic is described, we use numerical methods to study the conjugate locus and the cut locus in the general case.