A Symplectic Slice Theorem

We provide a model for an open invariant neighborhood of any orbit in a symplectic manifold endowed with a canonical proper symmetry. Our results generalize the constructions of Marle and Guillemin and Sternberg for canonical symmetries that have an associated momentum map. In these papers the momentum map played a crucial role in the construction of the tubular model. The present work shows that in the construction of the tubular model, the so-called Chu map, can be used instead, which exists for any canonical action, unlike the momentum map. Hamilton's equations for any invariant Hamiltonian function take on a particularly simple form in these tubular variables. As an application we will find situations, that we will call tubewise Hamiltonian, in which the existence of a standard momentum map in invariant neighborhoods is guaranteed.