Mathematics

Motivated by the study of linear quadratic optimal control problems, we
consider a dynamical system with a constant, quadratic Hamiltonian, and we
characterize the number of conjugate times in terms of the spectrum of the
Hamiltonian vector field $\vec{H}$. We prove the following dichotomy: the
number of conjugate times is identically zero or grows to infinity. The latter
case occurs if and only if $\vec{H}$ has at least one Jordan block of odd
dimension corresponding to a purely imaginary eigenvalue. As a byproduct, we
obtain bounds from below on the number of conjugate times contained in an
interval in terms of the spectrum of $\vec{H}$.