Magnetic trajectories on Heisenberg nilmanifolds

By fixing the usual metric on the Heisenberg Lie group H₃, we consider any left-invariant Lorentz force for which we write the corresponding magnetic equations. The aim of this work is twofold: the study of closed magnetic trajectories on Heisenberg nilmanifolds of dimension three and the inverse problem for this system, which consists in proving the existence of a Lagrangian. The last goal is achieved on H₃. By using symmetries coming from convenient actions, we compute the magnetic trajectories through the identity in H₃. We determine the closed magnetic trajectories on H₃ and consider the existence question on compact quotients Λ H₃ for any cocompact lattice Λ⊂ H₃. We prove that the existence of closed magnetic geodesics is not guaranteed on every homotopy class. We give examples of compact quotients Γₖ H₃ with infinite many closed magnetic trajectories and compact quotients with no closed non-contractible magnetic trajectory for a given Lorentz force.