Hamiltonian formalism for general-relativistic adiabatic fluids

We derive the Hamiltonian structures of three theories: non-relativistic, special-relativistic, and general-relativistic adiabatic fluids, each in the Eulerian representation in Riemannian space (or Lorentzian spacetime), all by the same procedure using standard variational principles. The evolution in each case is generated by a Hamiltonian that is equivalent to that obtained from a canonical analysis. For the gravitational variables, the Poisson bracket has the usual canonical symplectic structure. However, for the fluid variables, the three theories all share the same Lie-Poisson bracket, when expressed in the appropriate spaces of physical variables constructed here. This shared Lie-Poisson bracket is associated to the dual of the semidirect-product Lie algebra of vector fields acting on differential forms. An immediate consequence of this shared structure is that each of these theories possesses an infinite family of conservation laws: the so-called ''Casimirs'' that belong to the kernel of the Lie-Poisson bracket. The role of these Casimirs in the study of Lyapunov stability (or dynamic stability) for fluid equilibria is discussed. The relationship of this approach to other approaches in the literature is also discussed. (orig.)