S S symmetry Article Symmetries of Differential Equations in Cosmology Michael Tsamparlis 1,*,† and Andronikos Paliathanasis 2,3,4,† ID 1 Faculty of Physics, Department of Astronomy-Astrophysics-Mechanics, University of Athens, Panepistemiopolis, 157 83 Athens, Greece 2 Instituto de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile;
[email protected] 3 Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Core Curriculum Program, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia 4 Institute of Systems Science, Durban University of Technology, PO Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa * Correspondence:
[email protected] † These authors contributed equally to this work. Received: 15 May 2018; Accepted: 15 June 2018; Published: 21 June 2018 Abstract: The purpose of the current article is to present a brief albeit accurate presentation of the main tools used in the study of symmetries of Lagrange equations for holonomic systems and subsequently to show how these tools are applied in the major models of modern cosmology in order to derive exact solutions and deal with the problem of dark matter/energy. The key role in this approach are the first integrals of the field equations. We start with the Lie point symmetries and the first integrals defined by them, that is, the Hojman integrals. Subsequently, we discuss the Noether point symmetries and the well-known method for deriving the Noether integrals. By means of the Inverse Noether Theorem, we show that, to every Hojman quadratic first integral, it is possible to associate a Noether symmetry whose Noether integral is the original Hojman integral. It is emphasized that the point transformation generating this Noether symmetry need not coincide with the point transformation defining the Lie symmetry which produces the Hojman integral.