The alternative version of Hamiltonian formalism for higher-derivative theories is proposed. As compared with the standard Ostrogradski approach it has the following advantages: (i) the Lagrangian, when expressed in terms of new variables yields proper equations of motion; no additional Lagrange multipliers are necessary (ii) the Legendre transformation can be performed in a straightforward way provided the Lagrangian is nonsingular in Ostrogradski sense. The generalizations to singular Lagrangians as well as field theory are presented.

It is demonstrated that the Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator in arbitrary dimension enjoys the l-conformal Newton-Hooke symmetry provided frequencies of oscillation form the arithmetic sequence ω k = (2k − 1)ω 1 , where k = 1, . . . , n, and l is the half-integer 2n−1 2 . The model is shown to be maximally superintegrable. A link to n decoupled isotropic oscillators is discussed and an interplay between the l-conformal Newton-Hooke symmetry and symmetries characterizing each individual isotropic oscillator is analyzed.

Nonrelativistic conformal groups, indexed by l = N 2 , are analyzed. Under the assumption that the mass parametrizing the central extension is nonvanishing the coadjoint orbits are classified and described in terms of convenient variables. It is shown that the corresponding dynamical system describes, within Ostrogradski framework, the nonrelativistic particle obeying (N + 1)-th order equation of motion. As a special case, the Schrödinger group and the standard Newton equations are obtained for N = 1 (l = 1 2 ).

It is noted that the Niederer transformation can be used to find the explicit relation between time-dependent linear oscillators, including the most interesting case when one of them is harmonic. A geometric interpretation of this correspondence is provided by certain subclasses of pp-waves; in particular the ones strictly related to the proper conformal transformations. This observation allows us to show that the pulses of plane gravitational wave exhibiting the maximal conformal symmetry are analytically solvable. Particularly interesting is the circularly polarized family for which some aspects (such as the classical cross section, velocity memory effect and impulsive limit) are discussed in more detail. The role of the additional integrals of motion, associated with the conformal generators, is clarified by means of Ermakov-Lewis invariants. Possible applications to the description of interaction of electromagnetic beams with matter are also indicated.

We discuss in some detail the interaction of classical particles, including the scattering and memory effect, with a pulse of gravitational plane wave. The key point is the conformal symmetry of gravitational plane waves. In particular, we obtain, in the limit of short pulse, some results for impulsive gravitational waves. Furthermore, in the general case, we give certain conditions which allow us to completely describe the interaction in terms of the singular Baldwin-Jeffery-Rosen coordinates.