Hyperbolicity and curvature in dynamics and control

In this thesis, we will use some techniques developed in the frame of Optimal Control Theory and some tools of Hyperbolic Dynamics to investigate problems of Hamiltonian dynamics and infinite horizon optimal control. The intimate relation between Optimal Control Theory and Hamiltonian Dynamics became clear after the publication of Pontryagin Maximum Principle (PMP) in the 50s ([24]): this result in fact shows that the extremals of an optimal control problem have to be seeked among the solutions of a certain Hamiltonian system associated to the problem...