Order reduction, projectability and constrainsts of second-order field theories and higuer-order mechanics

Abstract

The consequences of the projectability of Poincar\'e-Cartan forms in a third-order jet bundle $J^3\pi$ to a lower-order jet bundle are analyzed using the constraint algorithm for the Euler-Lagrange equations in $J^3\pi$. The results are applied to the Hilbert Lagrangian for the Einstein equations. Furthermore, the case of higher-order mechanics is also studied as a particular situation.