Canonical transformations in classical mechanics

H. Sonoda 10 December 2011

revised 9 March 2012
1 Reciprocal relations
Let S be Hamiltons principal function that depends on initial coordinates q
i
(i =
1, , n) and nal coordinates Q
i
(i = 1, , n). The time dierence between
the initial and nal points does not play any role in the following discussion.
The conjugate momenta are given by
P
i
=
S
Q
i
, p
i
=
S
q
i
(i = 1, , n)
Consequently, we obtain the following reciprocal relations:
_
P
i
Q
j
_
q
=
_
P
j
Q
i
_
q
,
_
p
i
q
j
_
Q
=
_
p
j
q
i
_
Q
and
_
P
i
q
j
_
Q
=
_
p
j
Q
i
_
q
2 Symplectic relations
We consider the relation between the 2n-by-2n matrix M and its inverse:
M
_
_
_
Q
i
q
j
_
p
_
Q
i
p
j
_
q
_
P
i
q
j
_
p
_
P
i
p
j
_
q
_
_
, M
1

_
_
_
q
i
Q
j
_
P
_
q
i
P
j
_
Q
_
p
i
Q
j
_
P
_
p
i
P
j
_
Q
_
_
In the following, we use Einsteins convention for repeated subscripts.
u
i
v
i

n

i=1
u
i
v
i
1.
_
Q
i
p
j
_
q
vs
_
q
i
P
j
_
Q
We rst note
_
_
_
_
Q
i
p
j
_
q
_
p
j
Q
k
_
q
=
ik
_
P
k
q
j
_
Q
_
q
j
P
i
_
Q
=
ik
Because of a reciprocal relation
_
p
j
Q
k
_
q
=
_
P
k
q
j
_
Q
1
the rst equation can be written as

_
Q
i
p
j
_
q
_
P
k
q
j
_
q
=
ik
Comparing this with the second equation, we obtain
_
q
j
P
i
_
Q
=
_
Q
i
p
j
_
q
2.
_
p
i
P
j
_
Q
vs
_
Q
j
q
i
_
p
, and
_
q
j
Q
i
_
P
vs
_
P
i
p
j
_
q
Since
dp
i
=

j
_
p
i
q
j
_
Q
dq
j
+

j
_
p
i
Q
j
_
q
dQ
j
we obtain
dQ
i
=
_
Q
i
p
j
_
q
_
dp
j

_
p
j
q
k
_
Q
dq
k
_
Setting dp = 0, we obtain
_
Q
i
q
j
_
p
=
_
Q
i
p
k
_
q
_
p
k
q
j
_
Q
On the other hand, we obtain
_
p
i
P
j
_
Q
=
_
p
i
q
k
_
Q
_
q
k
P
j
_
Q
Using the reciprocal relation
_
p
i
q
k
_
Q
=
_
p
k
q
i
_
Q
and the result of 1, we
can rewrite this as
_
p
i
P
j
_
Q
=
_
p
k
q
i
_
Q
()
_
Q
j
p
k
_
q
We thus obtain
_
p
i
P
j
_
Q
=
_
Q
j
q
i
_
p
Similarly, by interchaning (q, p) and (Q, P), we obtain
_
q
j
Q
i
_
P
=
_
P
i
p
j
_
q
2
3.
_
P
i
q
j
_
p
vs
_
p
j
Q
i
_
P
We rst obtain
_
P
i
q
j
_
p
=
_
P
i
q
j
_
Q
+
_
P
i
Q
k
_
q
_
Q
k
q
j
_
p
. .
=
_
Q
k
p
l
_
q
_
p
l
q
j
_
Q
=
_
P
i
q
j
_
Q

_
P
i
p
l
_
q
_
p
l
q
j
_
Q
Using the reciprocal relations
_
P
i
q
j
_
Q
=
_
p
j
Q
i
_
q
&
_
p
l
q
j
_
Q
=
_
p
j
q
l
_
Q
,
and the second result of 2, we obtain
_
P
i
q
j
_
p
=
_
p
j
Q
i
_
q

_
p
j
q
l
_
Q
_
q
l
Q
i
_
P
=
_
p
j
Q
i
_
P
Hence,
_
P
i
q
j
_
p
=
_
p
j
Q
i
_
P
To summarize, we have thus obtained the symplectic relation
_

_
_
q
i
Q
j
_
P
=
_
P
j
p
i
_
q
_
q
i
P
j
_
Q
=
_
Q
j
p
i
_
q
_
p
i
Q
j
_
P
=
_
P
j
q
i
_
p
_
p
i
P
j
_
Q
=
_
Q
j
q
i
_
p
We can rewrite these in the matrix form:
M
1
=
T
M
T
=
_
_
_
P
j
p
i
_
q

_
Q
j
p
i
_
q

_
P
j
q
i
_
p
_
Q
j
q
i
_
p
_
_
where
=
_
0 1
n
1
n
0
_
3 Canonical transformation
We dene a Poisson bracket by
[f(q, p), g(q, p)]

i
_
f
q
i
g
p
i

f
p
i
g
q
i
_
3
We call
(q
i
, p
i
) (q

i
, p

i
)
a canonical transformation, if
_
q

i
, p

=
ij
,
_
q

i
, q

=
_
p

i
, p

= 0
The symplectic relations found in the previous section simply mean that
(q, p) (Q, P) is a canonical transformation because of the identity
M
T
M
T
=
_
[Q
i
, P
j
] [Q
i
, Q
j
]
[P
i
, P
j
] [P
i
, Q
j
]
_
The symplectic relations imply this is the identity matrix. Conversely, if (q, p)
(Q, P) is a canonical transformation, the right-hand side of the above is the
identity, and we obtain the symplectic relation
M
1
=
T
M
T

Namely, the symplectic relation is equivalent to the canonical transformation

between (q, p) and (Q, P): if the symplectic relation holds, (Q, P) and (q, p) are
related by a canonical transformation, and vice versa.
4 Generating functions
Hamiltons principal function S(q, Q) is called a generating function of the
canonical transformation
(q, p) (Q, P)
Any function of q, Q generates a canonical transformation as long as
p
i
=
S(q, Q)
q
i
, P
i
=
S(q, Q)
Q
i
gives a one-to-one correspondence between (Q, P) and (q, p).
There are three other types of generating functions:
1.
S

(p, Q) S(q, Q) +

i
q
i
p
i
where p
i
=
S(q,Q)
q
i
. We nd
dS

(p, Q) =

i
(q
i
dp
i
+ P
i
dQ
i
)
4
2.
S

(q, P) S(q, Q)

i
Q
i
P
i
where P
i
=
S(q,Q)
Q
i
. We nd
dS

(q, P) =

i
(p
i
dq
i
Q
i
dP
i
)
3.
S

(p, P) S(q, Q) +

i
(q
i
p
i
Q
i
P
i
)
where
p
i
=
S(q, Q)
q
i
, P
i
=
S(q, Q)
Q
i
We then nd
dS

(p, P) =

i
(q
i
dp
i
Q
i
dP
i
)
Appendix: Symplectic geometry
In the 2n-dimensional phase space, we introduce a dierential two-form (area
element)
(q, p)
n

i=1
dq
i
dp
i
We then nd
(Q, P) =

i
dQ
i
dP
i
=

j
_
Q
i
q
j
dq
j
+
Q
i
p
j
dp
j
_

k
_
P
i
q
k
dq
k
+
P
i
p
k
dp
k
_
=

i,j,k
Q
i
q
j
P
i
q
k
dq
j
dq
k
+

i,j,k
Q
i
p
j
P
i
p
k
dp
j
dp
k
+

i,j,k
_
Q
i
q
j
P
i
p
k

Q
i
p
k
P
i
q
j
_
dq
j
dp
k
=
1
2

i,j,k
_
Q
i
q
j
P
i
q
k

Q
i
q
k
P
i
q
j
_
dq
j
dq
k
+
1
2

i,j,k
_
Q
i
p
j
P
i
p
k

Q
i
p
k
P
i
p
j
_
dp
j
dp
k
+

i,j,k
_
Q
i
q
j
P
i
p
k

Q
i
p
k
P
i
q
j
_
dq
j
dp
k
5
If (q, p) (Q, P) is a canonical transformation, the symplectic relations hold
true. Then, we obtain

i
_
Q
i
q
j
P
i
q
k

Q
i
q
k
P
i
q
j
_
=

i
_
p
j
P
i
P
i
q
k
+
p
j
Q
i
Q
i
q
k
_
= 0

i
_
Q
i
p
j
P
i
p
k

Q
i
p
k
P
i
p
j
_
=

i
_
q
j
P
i
P
i
p
k
+
q
j
Q
i
Q
i
p
k
_
= 0
and

i
_
Q
i
q
j
P
i
p
k

Q
i
p
k
P
i
q
j
_
=

i
_
p
j
P
i
P
i
p
k
+
p
j
Q
i
Q
i
p
k
_
=
jk
Thus, we obtain
(Q, P) = (q, p)
under any canonical transformation.
The invariance of the symplectic form (q, p) generalizes the Liouville theo-
rem that states the invariance of the volume element
1
n!
(q, p)
n
=
1
n!
(q, p) (q, p) = dq
1
dp
1
dq
2
dp
2
dq
n
dp
n
under canonical transformations.
6