An introduction to classical monodromy: applications to molecules in external fields

Abstract

An integrable Hamiltonian system presents monodromy if the action-angle variables cannot be defined globally. As a prototype of classical monodromy with azimuthal symmetry, we consider a linear molecule interacting with external fields and explore the topology structure of its phase space. Based on the behavior of closed orbits around singular points or regions of the energy-momentum plane, a semitheoretical method is derived to detect classical monodromy. The validity of the monodromy test is numerically illustrated for several systems with azimuthal symmetry.