Moment methods for nonlinear maps

It is shown that Differential Algebra (DA) may be used to push moments of distributions through a map, at a computational cost per moment comparable to pushing a single particle. The algorithm is independent of order, and whether or not the map is symplectic. Starting from the known result that moment-vectors transform linearly - like a tensor - even under a nonlinear map, I suggest that the form of the moment transformation rule indicates that the moment-vectors are elements of the dual to DA-vector space. I propose several methods of manipulating moments and constructing invariants using DA. I close with speculations on how DA might be used to ''close the circle'' to solve the inverse moment problem, yielding an entirely DA-and-moment-based space-charge code. (Author)