Nonrelativistic Geodesic Motion

Abstract

We show that any second order dynamic equation on a configuration space $X\to R$ of nonrelativistic mechanics can be seen as a geodesic equation with respect to some (nonlinear) connection on the tangent bundle $TX\to X$ of relativistic velocities. We compare relativistic and nonrelativistic geodesic equations, and study the Jacobi vector fields along nonrelativistic geodesics.

17 pages, LaTeX