We consider the time-dependent dynamical system q¨a=−Γbcaq˙bq˙c−ω(t)Qa(q) where ω(t) is a non-zero arbitrary function and the connection coefficients Γbca are computed from the kinetic metric (kinetic energy) of the system. In order to determine the quadratic first integrals (QFIs) I we assume that I=Kabq˙aq˙b+Kaq˙a+K where the unknown coefficients Kab,Ka,K are tensors depending on t,qa and impose the condition dIdt=0. This condition leads to a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) involving the quantities Kab,Ka,K,ω(t) and Qa(q). From these PDEs, it follows that Kab is a Killing tensor (KT) of the kinetic metric. We use the KT Kab in two ways: a. We assume a general polynomial form in t both for Kab and Ka; b. We express Kab in a basis of the KTs of order 2 of the kinetic metric assuming the coefficients to be functions of t. In both cases, this leads to a new system of PDEs whose solution requires that we specify either ω(t) or Qa(q). We consider first that ω(t) is a general polynomial in t and find that in this case the dynamical system admits two independent QFIs which we collect in a Theorem. Next, we specify the quantities Qa(q) to be the generalized time-dependent Kepler potential V=−ω(t)rν and determine the functions ω(t) for which QFIs are admitted. We extend the discussion to the non-linear differential equation x¨=−ω(t)xμ+ϕ(t)x˙(μ≠−1) and compute the relation between the coefficients ω(t),ϕ(t) so that QFIs are admitted. We apply the results to determine the QFIs of the generalized Lane–Emden equation.
An efficient hybrid computational technique for the time dependent Lane-Emden equation of arbitrary order
