The fundamental Lepage form in two independent variables: A generalization using order-reducibility

Abstract

A second-order generalization of the fundamental Lepage form of geometric calculus of variations over fibered manifolds with 2-dimensional base is described by means of insisting on (i) an equivalence relation "Lepage differential 2-form is closed if and only if the associated Lagrangian is trivial" and (ii) the principal component of Lepage form, extending the well-known Poincare-Cartan form, preserving order prescribed by a given Lagrangian. This approach completes several attempts of finding a Lepage equivalent of a second-order Lagrangian possessing condition (i), which is well-known for first-order Lagrangians in field theory due to Krupka and Betounes.