In this paper we study the existence of periodic orbits with prescribed energy levels of convex Lagrangian systems on complete Riemannian manifolds. We extend the existence results of Contreras by developing a modified minimax principal to a class of Lagrangian systems on noncompact Riemannian manifolds, namely the so called $\lsh$ Lagrangian systems. In particular, we prove that for almost every $k\in(0,c_u(L))$ the exact magnetic flow associated to a $\lsh$ Lagrangian has a contractible periodic orbit with energy $k$. We also discuss the existence and non-existence of closed geodesics on the product Riemannian manifold $\R\times M$.
Categories: math.DG math.DS math.SG