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Lie groupoids and their associated algebroids arise naturally in the study of the constitutive properties of continuous media. Thus, continuum mechanics and differential geometry illuminate each other in a mutual entanglement of theory and applications. Given any material property, such as the elastic energy or an index of refraction, affected by the state of deformation of the material body, one can automatically associate to it a groupoid. Under conditions of differentiability, this material groupoid is a Lie groupoid. Its associated Lie algebroid plays an important role in the determination of the existence of material defects, such as dislocations. This paper presents a rather intuitive treatment of these ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a geometric algorithm for obtaining consistent solutions to systems of partial differential equations, mainly arising from singular covariant first-order classical field theories. This algorithm gives an intrinsic description of all the constraint submanifolds. The field equations are stated geometrically, either representing their solutions by integrable connections or, what is equivalent, by certain kinds of integrable m-vector fields. First, we consider the problem of finding connections or multivector fields solutions to the field equations in a general framework: a pre-multisymplectic fiber bundle (which will be identified with the first-order jet bundle and the multi-momentum bundle when Lagrangian and Hamiltonian field theories are considered). Then, the problem is stated and solved in a linear context, and a pointwise application of the results leads to the algorithm for the general case. In a second step, the integrability of the solutions is also studied. Finally, the method is applied to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian field theories and, for the former, the problem of finding holonomic solutions is also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]