Constrained Reductions of 2D dispersionless Toda Hierarchy, Hamiltonian Structure and Interface Dynamics

Finite-dimensional reductions of the 2D dispersionless Toda hierarchy, constrained by the ``string equation'' are studied. These include solutions determined by polynomial, rational or logarithmic functions, which are of interest in relation to the ``Laplacian growth'' problem governing interface dynamics. The consistency of such reductions is proved, and the Hamiltonian structure of the reduced dynamics is derived. The Poisson structure of the rationally reduced dispersionless Toda hierarchies is also derived