Seminar 11.

POISSON BRACKETS
Problem 43.
Calculate Poisson brackets [x, p
x
] and [L
x
, L
y
].
Solution
According to the general denition of the Poisson brackets,
[u, v] =

i
_
u
q
i
v
p
i

u
p
i
v
q
i
_
, (1)
we have
[x, p
x
] =

i
_
x
q
i
p
x
p
i

x
p
i
p
x
q
i
_
=
x
x
p
x
p
x
= 1. (2)
In the same way we can easily prove the rest of the general formulas given by Eqs.
(6.55)-(6.56) from the Lecture Notes:
[q
j
, q
k
] = [p
j
, p
k
] = 0; [q
j
, p
k
] = [p
j
, q
k
] =
jk
. (3)
Using these formulas we can calculate also the Poisson brackets for the angular
momenta, since by denition,
L = (r p) =

i j k
x y z
p
x
p
y
p
z

. (4)
It follows
_
_
_
L
x
= yp
z
zp
y
L
y
= zp
x
xp
z
L
z
= xp
y
yp
x
.
(5)
Hence
[L
x
, L
y
] = [yp
z
zp
y
, zp
x
xp
z
]
=
(yp
z
zp
y
)
x
(zp
x
xp
z
)
p
x
+
(yp
z
zp
y
)
y
(zp
x
xp
z
)
p
y
+
(yp
z
zp
y
)
z
(zp
x
xp
z
)
p
z

(yp
z
zp
y
)
p
x
(zp
x
xp
z
)
x
+
(yp
z
zp
y
)
p
y
(zp
x
xp
z
)
y
+
(yp
z
zp
y
)
p
z
(zp
x
xp
z
)
z
= p
y
(x) yp
x
= xp
y
yp
x
= L
z
. (6)
In the same way we can prove that
[L
y
, L
z
] = L
x
and [L
z
, L
x
] = L
y
. (7)
Problem 44
Take the Hamiltonian for the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator,
H =
1
2m
3

n=1
p
2
n
+
m
2
2
3

n=1
q
2
n
, (8)
and consider the functions
T
kl
= p
k
p
l
+ (m)
2
q
k
q
l
for k, l = 1, 2, 3. (9)
Show that these functions are the constants of motion for all k and l.
Solution
The equations of motion for the functions T
kl
in Poisson bracket formulation of
mechanics are
dT
kl
dt
= [T
kl
, H] +
T
kl
t
. (10)
Since T
kl
does not depend on time t explicitly, this equation is reduced to
dT
kl
dt
= [T
kl
, H]. (11)
Hence the functions T
kl
will be the constants of motion if the Poisson brackets for H
and T
kl
are zero. So let calculate
[H, T
kl
] =
_
(
1
2m
3

n=1
p
2
n
+
m
2
2
3

n=1
q
2
n
), p
k
p
l
+ (m)
2
q
k
q
l
_
=
1
2m

n
[p
n
p
n
, p
k
p
l
] +
m
2
2
(m)
2

n
[q
n
q
n
, q
k
q
l
]
+
(m)
2
2m

n
[p
n
p
n
, q
k
q
l
] +
m
2
2

n
[q
n
q
n
, p
k
p
l
]. (12)
Taking into account the general relations
_
[p
n
, p
k
] = [q
n
, q
k
] = 0
[q
n
, p
k
] = [p
n
, q
k
] =
nk
,
(13)
we immediately see that the rst two terms in Eq. (12) are equal to zero, while the
rest two terms require some additional calculations. For the third term, we have
[p
n
p
n
, q
k
q
l
] =

j
p
n
p
n
q
j
q
k
q
l
p
j

j
p
n
p
n
p
j
q
k
q
l
q
j
= [p
n
, q
k
q
l
]p
n
+ p
n
[p
n
, q
k
q
l
], (14)
since formally
p
n
p
n
q
j
=
p
n
q
j
p
n
+ p
n
p
n
q
j
(15)
and
p
n
p
n
p
j
=
p
n
p
j
p
n
+ p
n
p
n
p
j
. (16)
In the same way we can prove that
[p
n
, q
k
q
l
] = [p
n
, q
k
]q
l
+ q
k
[p
n
, q
l
], (17)
which by using Eq. (13) yields
[p
n
, q
k
q
l
] =
nk
q
l

nl
q
k
. (18)
Substituting these relations into Eq. (14) we nally obtain for the third term
[p
n
p
n
, q
k
q
l
] = (
nk
q
l

nl
q
k
)p
n
+p
n
(
nk
q
l

nl
q
k
) = q
l
p
k
q
k
p
l
p
k
q
l
p
l
q
k
. (19)
In an analogous way, we transform the fourth term in Eq. (12) as
[q
n
q
n
, p
k
p
l
] = [q
n
, p
k
p
l
]q
n
+ q
n
[q
n
, p
k
p
l
] = ([q
n
, p
k
]p
l
+ p
k
[q
n
, p
l
])q
n
+ q
n
([q
n
, p
k
]p
l
+ p
k
[q
n
, p
l
])
= (
nk
p
l
+
nl
p
k
)q
n
+ q
n
(
nk
p
l
+
nl
p
k
) = p
l
q
k
+ p
k
q
l
+ q
k
p
l
+ q
l
p
k
. (20)
From the comparison between (19) and (20), it follows
[p
n
p
n
, q
k
q
l
] = [q
n
q
n
, p
k
p
l
], (21)
which yields
[H, T
kl
] = 0, (22)
and hence the functions T
kl
are the constants of motion for all k and l, as required.
Next we obtain this result in a shorter way using some additional relations given
by Eqs. (6.54) in Lecture Notes,
_
[u, q
k
] =
u
p
k
[u, p
k
] =
u
q
k
.
(23)
Let u = H, then
_
[q
k
, H] =
H
p
k
[p
k
, H] =
H
q
k
.
(24)
In our case the Hamiltonian H is given by Eq. (8), and thus
_
H
p
k
=
p
k
m
H
q
k
= m
2
q
k
(25)
and Eqs. (24) become
_
[q
k
, H] =
p
k
m
[p
k
, H] = m
2
q
k
(26)
With the use of these relations, we have
[T
kl
, H] = [p
k
p
l
+ (m)
2
q
k
q
l
, H] = [p
k
, H]p
l
+ p
k
[p
l
, H] + (m)
2
([q
k
, H]q
l
+ q
k
[q
l
, H])
= m
2
(q
k
p
l
+ p
k
q
l
) + (m)
2
(
p
k
m
q
l
+ q
k
p
l
m
)
= m
2
(q
k
p
l
+ p
k
q
l
p
k
q
l
q
k
p
l
) = 0, (27)
as it should be.