Reduction of nonholonomic systems in two stages and Hamiltonization

Abstract: In this paper we study the reduction of a nonholonomic system by a group of symmetries in two steps. Using the so-called 'vertical-symmetry' condition, we first perform a 'compression' of the nonholonomic system leading to an almost symplectic manifold. Second, we perform an (almost) symplectic reduction, relying on the existence of a momentum map. In this case, we verify that the resulting (almost) symplectic reduced spaces are the leaves of the characteristic foliation of the reduced nonholonomic bracket. On each leaf we study the (Lagrangian) equations of motion, obtaining a nonholonomic version of the Lagrange-Routh equations, and we analyze the existence of a conformal factor for the reduced bracket in terms of the existence of conformal factors for the almost symplectic leaves. We also relate the conditions for the existence of a momentum map for the compressed system with gauge transformations by 2-forms. The results are illustrated in three different examples.