Abelian Integrals: From the Tangential 16th Hilbert Problem to the Spherical Pendulum

In this chapter we deal with abelian integrals. They play a key role in the infinitesimal version of the 16th Hilbert problem. Recall that 16th Hilbert problem and its ramifications is one of the principal research subject of Christiane Rousseau and of the first author. We recall briefly the definition and explain the role of abelian integrals in 16th Hilbert problem. We also give a simple well-known proof of a property of abelian integrals. The reason for presenting it here is that it serves as a model for more complicated and more original treatment of abelian integrals in the study of Hamiltonian monodromy of fully integrable systems, which is the main subject of this chapter. We treat in particular the simplest example presenting non-trivial Hamiltonian monodromy: the spherical pendulum.