In this paper, we study the underlying geometry in the classical Hamilton-Jacobi equation. The proposed formalism is also valid for nonholonomic systems. We first introduce the essential geometric ingredients: a vector bundle, a linear almost Poisson structure and a Hamiltonian function, both on the dual bundle (a Hamiltonian system). From them, it is possible to formulate the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, obtaining as a particular case, the classical theory. The main application in this paper is to nonholonomic mechanical systems. For it, we first construct the linear almost Poisson structure on the dual space of the vector bundle of admissible directions, and then, apply the Hamilton-Jacobi theorem. Another important fact in our paper is the use of the orbit theorem to symplify the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, the introduction of the notion of morphisms preserving the Hamiltonian system; indeed, this concept will be very useful to treat with reduction procedures for systems with symmetries. Several detailed examples are given to illustrate the utility of these new developments.

The purpose of this paper is to show that, at least for Lagrangians of mechanical type, nonholonomic Euler–Lagrange equations for a nonholonomic linear constraint D may be viewed as nonconstrained Euler–Lagrange equations but on a new (generally not Lie) algebroid structure on D. The proposed novel formalism allows us to treat in a unified way a variety of situations in nonholonomic mechanics and gives rise to a version of Noether theorem producing actual first integrals in the case of symmetries.