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Gauge transformations are canonical transformations

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1997 Eur. J. Phys. 18 467

(http://iopscience.iop.org/0143-0807/18/6/013)

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Eur. J. Phys. 18 (1997) 467–468. Printed in the UK

Letters and comments

Gauge transformations are canonical Interchanging the order of differentiation on the right-
transformations hand side, we obtain
d ∂ df ∂ df
Abstract. It is shown that a gauge transformation = . (6)
dt ∂ q̇k dt ∂qk dt
L0 (q, q̇, t) = L(q, q̇, t) + df (q, t)/dt is also a canonical
transformation which preserves Hamilton’s equation of Comparing equation (6) with equation (2), we see
motion, where L0 and L are two different choices of that the expression df (q, t)/dt satisfies the Lagrange
Lagrangian of a dynamical system, and f is an arbitrary equations identically. Consequently, we can add
function of coordinates q and time t. df (q, t)/dt to L and form a new Lagrangian L0 :
df
Resumen. Sa presenta una derivación sencilla y directa de L0 = L +
los propiadades de transformaciones canónicas empezando de dt
transformaciones ‘gauge’. Dicha derivación no necesita la which is dynamically equivalent to L. But this gauge
aplicación de principios de Hamilton ni el cálculo de transformation does give a change in the generalized
variaciones.
momentum conjugate to qk :
 
The Lagrangian of a dynamical system is defined only to ∂L0 ∂ df ∂f
within an additive total time derivative of any function pk0 = = L+ = pk + . (7)
∂ q̇k ∂ q̇k dt ∂qk
of coordinates and time. For example, if L(q, q̇, t) and
L0 (q, q̇, t) are two different choices of Lagrangian, and To show that the gauge transformation (1) is also a
they differ by the total derivative with respect to time canonical transformation, we start with the transformed
Hamiltonian H 0
of some function f (q, t) of coordinates and time X
H 0 (q, p0 , t) = pk0 q̇k − L0
df (q, t)
L0 (q, q̇, t) = L(q, q̇, t) + (1) k
dt X X ∂f df
0
= pk q̇k − L + q̇k −
then they are dynamically equivalent (i.e. both L and L k k
∂q k dt
satisfy Lagrange’s equations of motion). Equation (1) ∂f
is often called a gauge transformation, since it does = H (q, p, t) − (8)
regauge the dependence of the Lagrangian on the ∂t
independent variables. Here we show that a gauge where we have used equations (7) and (3). Hamilton’s
transformation as given by equation (1) is also a equations are preserved
canonical transformation, as it preserves Hamilton’s ∂H 0 ∂H
equations of motion. ṗk0 = − =−
∂ q̇k ∂ q̇k
Let us first show the equivalence of L(q, q̇, t) and
L0 (q, q̇, t). We start with Lagrange’s equations of because ∂f/∂t is not a function of q̇
motion
∂H 0 ∂H
d ∂L ∂L q̇k = =
− =0 k = 1, 2, . . . , n (2) ∂ ṗk0 ∂ ṗk0
dt ∂ q̇k ∂qk
because ∂f/∂t is not a function of ṗ 0 .
where L = T − V is the Lagrangian of the system.
Thus, we have proved that the gauge transformation
We next differentiate the arbitrary function f (q, t) with
(1) is a canonical transformation, and the function f can
respect to time t be considered as the generating function. Of course, this
df X ∂f ∂f represents a very narrow subgroup of the whole set of
= q̇k + (3) canonical transformations.
dt k
∂q k ∂t

and then differentiate with respect to q̇k I wish to thank the anonymous referee for his kindness
in pointing out my error in the first draft.
∂ df ∂f
= (4) Tai L Chow
∂ q̇k dt ∂qk
Department of Physics, California State University,
and differentiate again with respect to t Stanislaus, Turlock, CA 95382, USA
d ∂ df d ∂f
= . (5) PII: S0143-0807(97)84299-7
dt ∂ q̇k dt dt ∂qk
0143-0807/97/060467+02$19.50
c 1997 IOP Publishing Ltd & The European Physical Society 467