CDS140a Nonlinear Systems: Local Theory 02/08/2011 5 Gradient and Hamiltonian Systems Here we discuss some special nonlinear ODE that have some very nice properties. De�nition: Let E be an open subset of R2n and let H ∈ C2 (E) where H = H(x, y) with x, y ∈ Rn . The system ẋ = ∂H ∂y ẏ = −∂H ∂x , where ∂H ∂x = � ∂H ∂x1 , . . . , ∂H ∂xn �T ∂H ∂y = � ∂H ∂y1 , . . . , ∂H ∂yn �T , is called a Hamilton