The structure of extremals of autonomous variational problems with vector-valued functions

Abstract

In this work we study the structure of extremals of autonomous variational problems with vector-valued functions on intervals in $[0,\infty)$. We are interested in a turnpike property of the extremals which is independent of the length of the interval, for all sufficiently large intervals. To have this property means, roughly speaking, that the approximate solutions of the variational problems are determined mainly by the integrand, and are essentially independent of the choice of interval and endpoint conditions.