HAMILTONIAN-FORMALISM FOR NONLOCAL LAGRANGIANS

A Hamiltonian formalism is set up for nonlocal Lagrangian systems. The method is based on obtaining an equivalent singular first order Lagrangian, which is processed according to the standard Legendre transformation and then, the resulting Hamiltonian formalism is pulled back onto the phase space defined by the corresponding constraints. Finally, the standard results for local Lagrangians of any order are obtained as a particular case.