Lifts of symmetric tensors: Fluids, plasma, and grad hierarchy

Geometrical and algebraic aspects of the Hamiltonian realizations of the Euler's fluid and the Vlasov's plasma are investigated. A purely geometric pathway (involving complete lifts and vertical representatives) is proposed, which establishes a link from particle motion to evolution of the field variables. This pathway is free from Poisson brackets and Hamiltonian functionals. Momentum realizations (sections on tau*tau*Q) of (both compressible and incompressible) Euler's fluid and Vlasov's plasma are derived. Poisson mappings relating the momentum realizations with the usual field equations are constructed as duals of injective Lie algebra homomorphisms. The geometric pathway is then used to construct the evolution equations for 10-moments kinetic theory. This way the entire Grad hierarchy (including entropic fields) can be constructed in a purely geometric way. This geometric way is an alternative to the usual Hamiltonian approach to mechanics based on Poisson brackets.