- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface to Second Edition
- Preface to First Edition
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic Dynamics of Point Particles and Collections
- 2 Introduction to Lagrangian Mechanics
- 3 Lagrangian Theory of Constraints
- 4 Introduction to Hamiltonian Mechanics
- 5 The Calculus of Variations
- 6 Hamilton's Principle
- 7 Linear Operators and Dyadics
- 8 Kinematics of Rotation
- 9 Rotational Dynamics
- 10 Small Vibrations about Equilibrium
- 11 Central Force Motion
- 12 Scattering
- 13 Lagrangian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 14 Hamiltonian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 15 Hamilton'S Principle and Noether's Theorem
- 16 Relativity and Spacetime
- 17 Fourvectors and Operators
- 18 Relativistic Mechanics
- 19 Canonical Transformations
- 20 Generating Functions
- 21 Hamilton-Jacobi Therory
- 22 Angle‐Action Variables
- Appendix A Vector Fundamentals
- Appendix B Matrices and Determinants
- Appendix C Eigenvalue Problem with General Metric
- Appendix D The Calculus of Many Variables
- Appendix E Geometry of Phase Space
- References
- Index
Canonical Transformations
Canonical Transformations
- Chapter:
- (p.429) 19 Canonical Transformations
- Source:
- Analytical Mechanics for Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
- Author(s):
Oliver Davis Johns
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter describes canonical transformations as the most general phase-space transformations that preserve the extended Hamilton equations. There are several equivalent definitions of canonical transformations; three of them are presented here: the Poisson bracket condition, the direct condition, and the Lagrange bracket condition. Each of these three conditions has two forms, a long one that is written out in terms of partial derivatives and a symplectic one consisting of a single matrix equation. The chapter begins with the long form of the Lagrange bracket condition, and after introducing some necessary notation, derives the long and symplectic forms of all three. The definition of canonical transformation includes the Lorentz transformation of special relativity, since we are now operating in an extended phase space.
Keywords: canonical transformations, phase-space transformations, extended Hamilton equations, Poisson bracket condition, direct condition, Lagrange bracket condition
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Preface to Second Edition
- Preface to First Edition
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic Dynamics of Point Particles and Collections
- 2 Introduction to Lagrangian Mechanics
- 3 Lagrangian Theory of Constraints
- 4 Introduction to Hamiltonian Mechanics
- 5 The Calculus of Variations
- 6 Hamilton's Principle
- 7 Linear Operators and Dyadics
- 8 Kinematics of Rotation
- 9 Rotational Dynamics
- 10 Small Vibrations about Equilibrium
- 11 Central Force Motion
- 12 Scattering
- 13 Lagrangian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 14 Hamiltonian Mechanics with Time as a Coordinate
- 15 Hamilton'S Principle and Noether's Theorem
- 16 Relativity and Spacetime
- 17 Fourvectors and Operators
- 18 Relativistic Mechanics
- 19 Canonical Transformations
- 20 Generating Functions
- 21 Hamilton-Jacobi Therory
- 22 Angle‐Action Variables
- Appendix A Vector Fundamentals
- Appendix B Matrices and Determinants
- Appendix C Eigenvalue Problem with General Metric
- Appendix D The Calculus of Many Variables
- Appendix E Geometry of Phase Space
- References
- Index
