INTEGRAL, Vol. 9 No.

2, J uli 2004

RELATION BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM
PHYSICS USING CANONICAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Sylvia H. Sutanto and Paulus C. Tjiang
J urusan Fisika, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam
Universitas Katolik Parahyangan
Bandung, Indonesia
E-mail : sylvia@home.unpar.ac.id


Abstract
We discuss the relation between classical and quantum physics using the
algebraic structure of canonical transformation. The simplest relation
between canonical transformation algebra and compact Lie algebra will be
introduced that leads us to a better understanding of the first quantization in
quantum mechanics.

Keywords : canonical transformation, canonical realization, Lie group, Lie
algebra.


Intisari
Dibahas hubungan antara fisika klasik dan kuantum dengan menggunakan
struktur aljabar transformasi kanonik. Akan diperkenalkan hubungan paling
sederhana antara aljabar transformasi kanonik dan aljabar Lie kompak yang
membawa pada pengertian yang lebih baik tentang kuantisasi pertama dalam
mekanika kuantum.

Kata kunci : transformasi kanonik, realisasi kanonik, grup Lie, aljabar Lie


Received : J une 9, 2004
Accepted for publication : J une 21, 2004


1. Introduction
Symmetry of a physical system under a
given transformation will provide
dynamical information of the system such
as conserved quantities. The information
contained in every classical system may be
obtained by formulating the symmetry
properties under the canonical
transformations. For every quantum
system, the dynamical information of the
system can be understood using the Lie
brackets (commutators) of operators which
form a Lie algebra. A certain class of Lie
algebras, namely the compact Lie algebras
such as SO(n) and SU(n) algebras, play
many important roles in quantum
mechanics and quantum field theory.

In this paper we shall discuss the
connection between classical and quantum
physics using the canonical
transformation. We shall firstly discuss the
canonical formalisms in Section 2. In
Section 3, we briefly discuss that the set of
the infinitesimal canonical transformations
forms an abelian group and algebra. Using
the relation between Poisson brackets and
the Lie bracket, we shall derive the
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INTEGRAL, Vol. 9 No. 2, J uli 2004

analytical relation between generators of a
compact Lie algebra and functions of
canonical variables in Section 4. We shall
use SO(3) as an example for the relation.
We shall conclude the discussion in
Section 5.

2. Canonical Transformations
A classical system with n degree of
freedom can always be expressed by a
state function ( ) , , L q q t

, the
Lagrangian, with = 1,2,3,...,n and
q
dq
dt

satisfying
( ) 0 , ,
2
1
=


dt t q q L A
t
t
(2-1)

and leading to the Euler-Lagrange
equations of motion [1,2] :

L
q
d
dt
L
q

0 (2-2)

Every state function
can be associated with another state
function , the Hamiltonian,
defined as :
( ) L q q t

, ,
( t q p H , ,

)
)

( ) (
1
, , , ,
n
i i
i
H p q t p q L q q t

=
=

(2-3)

From Eq. (2-3), we may construct a set of
equations of motion equivalent to Eq. (2-
2) as

;
dq H
q
dt p
dp H
p
dt q

=
=

(2-4)

where
+
Z , with
and Z is the set of
integers. The set of equations (2-4) is
called the Hamiltons canonical equations,
with q

and p

are the canonically

conjugated variables.
{ 0 , > =
+
n Z n Z
The transformations of canonical
variables, i.e.

( )
( ) t p q p p
t p q q q
, ,
, ,




(2-5)

are called as canonical transformations if
the hamiltonian ( ) t p q H , , transforms as

( ) ( ) t p q H t p q H , , , ,
(2-6)

such that the set of equations of motion
(2-4) is preserved in the new variables.

The Lagrangian L(q,q,t) will transform as
follows

( ) ( ) L q q t pq H q p t , , , ,

= (2-7)

where we have surpressed the summation
of variable indices. Because of

( ) ( ) L q q t dt L q q t dt
t
t
t
t
, , , ,

1
2
1
2
0

= =
(2-8)

then there exist a function of canonical
variables F called as generating function
of the canonical transformation [1,2] such
that

pq H pq H
dF
dt

= + . (2-9)

The Poisson Bracket of two
functions of canonical variable M(q,p) and
N(q,p) as [1,2]

{ }
q
N
p
M
p
N
q
M
N M

= ,
(2-10)

then using the Eq. (2-4), the Poisson
bracket between M(q,p) and hamiltonian
H(q,p,t) can be written as follows :
}

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INTEGRAL, Vol. 9 No. 2, J uli 2004

{ } M H
M
q
H
p
M
p
H
q
M
q
q
M
p
p
dM
dt
,


=
= +
=

(2-12)

It is clear that if M(q,p) represents a
conserved quantity, then. :

{ } 0 , 0
dM
M H
dt
= = (2-13)

Also, Eq. (2-4) can be rewritten as follows
:

{ } {
q q H p p H

= = , ; ,
}
(2-14)

If we decompose

q and
dF
dt
of
Eq. (2-10) in terms of and and use
the integrability conditions of F(q,p,t), we
will have the following result [1,2] :
q

{ } 1 , =

=
q
p
p
q
p
p
q
q
p q
(2-15)

Eq. (2-15) is the necessary and sufficient
condition for the transformation
( ) ( , q p q p ) , to be a canonical
transformation.


3. Algebraic Structure of
Canonical Transformations
Although the full canonical transformation
is not an abelian group in general, but a
class of certain transformations called the
infinitesimal canonical transformation G =
{G

}, where

{ }
{ }
'
'
: ,
,
k k k i k i
k k k i k
G q q q q f
p p p p f

= +
= +
i
(3-1)

forms an abelian group under the
following operation [3] :

{ }
( )
'
: ,

k k k k i i j j
k
G G q q q q f f
G G q


= + +
=

(3-2)

The function f
i
= f
i
(q,p) is called the
generator of canonical transformation.
The repeated indices in Eqs. (3-1) and (3-
2) mean the summation over the indices,
and
i
are infinitesimal parameters. The
group G also forms a linear vector space
under group operation defined in Eq. (3-2)
and the following scalar multiplication [3]
:

{ }
'
: ,
j j j i j
kG q q q q k f

= +
i
(3-3)

Introducing the following vector
multiplication :

{ }
{ }
( )
( )
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
{ } { }
: ,
: ,
:

, ,
G q q q q f
G q q q q f
G G q q G G G G q
G G G G q
q q f f
k k k i k i
k k k i k i
k k k
k
k i j k i j

'
'
''
= +
= +
=
=
= +



1 1
1 1
(3-3)

then the vector space G may form an
algebra if and only if the following
condition of generators is satisfied :

{ }
ij k
k
ij j i
d f K f f + = , (3-4)

where and d are constants, and the
higher order terms of
i
and
K
ij
k
ij

in Eq. (3-
3) have been neglected.


4. Canonical Realization of Lie
Algebra

A group consisting elements with
continous parameters is called a continous
group, which is necessarily an infinite
group. A continous group with
differentiable parameters is called a Lie
group. Since a Lie group is an infinite
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INTEGRAL, Vol. 9 No. 2, J uli 2004

group, it is characterized by a finite
number of elements X
k
, k = 1,2, ... m,
called the generator of Lie group. A Lie
group wih parameters defined over a
closed interval is called a compact Lie
group. The set {X
k
} forms a Lie algebra
whose relation of generators is given by
[4]

[ ] ,
n
k l k l l k kl n
X X X X X X C X = = (4-1)

with are structure constants. Eq. (4-1)
satisfies the following relation
C
kl
n

, ,
, , ,
, , , , , ,
X X X X
X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X
k l l k
k l m k m l m
k l m l m k m k l
=
+ = +
+ +

0 =
(4-2)

with and are arbitrary numbers. Eq.
(4-2) are also satisfied by the Poisson
brackets, i.e.


{ } { }
{ } { } {
{ } { } { } { } { } { } 0 , , , , , ,
, , ,
, ,
= + +
+ = +
=
l k m k m l m l k
m l m k m l k
k l l k
f f f f f f f f f
f f f f f f f
f f f f
}
) p
(4-3)

A canonical realization of Lie
algebra is a relation between

( ,
k k
X f q (4-4)

which satisfies both Eqs. (3-4) and (4-1)
[5,6]. From Eqs. (3-4) and (4-1), it
follows that the canonical realizations are
not one-to-one correspondences, because
the constants K in Eq. (3-4) do not need
to be the same as the structure constants
in Eq. (4-1), and also because of the
existence of the constant d . If we
consider the case where and the
generator of canonical transformation f
i

transforms as :
ij
k
C
kl
n
ij
K C
ij
k
ij
k
=

i i i
k
ij ij k
i
f f f d
d C d
= +
=
(4-4)

then we have

{ }
k
k
ij j i
f C f f = , (4-5)

where the relation between X
k
and f
k
is
one-to-one correspondence. Such relation
is called the true canonical realization.
Not every Lie algebra has an associated
true canonical realization because it is not
always possible to eliminate the
contribution of constant d in Eq. (3-4)
through the transformation (4-4) in a given
Lie algebra [4,5]. The compact Lie
algebras, i.e an algebra constructed from
its associated compact Lie group such as
SO(n) [6] and SU(n), may have their
associated true canonical realization.
ij

To obtain an explicit relation of Eq. (4-4),
one has to solve simultaneously the set of
partial differential equations of the Poisson
bracket relation (4-5) associated with Lie
algebra with Lie structure (4-1). The
simplest solution of (4-5) in accordance to
Eq. (4-1) is

( ) ( )
,
,
k m k
mn
m n
n
f q p q X p =

(4-6)

where ( )
k
mn
X is the matrix representation
of X
k
. In the form of differential operator,
X
k
may be written as

( )
,

k m k
mn
m n
n
X q X
q

(4-7)

From Eqs. (4-1) and (4-7), it is clear that

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
n
k l l k kl n
mr rn mr rn mn
r
X X X X C X =

(4-8)

As the example, consider the SO(3)
algebra generated by the following
representation of generators :

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INTEGRAL, Vol. 9 No. 2, J uli 2004

1 2
3
0 0 0 0 0 1
0 0 1 ; 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
0 0 0
L L
L


= =





=




(4-9)

satisfying the relation

3
1
,
i j ijk k
k
L L
=
=


L , (4-10)

where i,j,k =1,2,3 and
ijk
is the three-
object permutation symbol. The
differential representation of (4-9) using
(4-7) is

1 2 3
3 2
2 3 1
1 3
3 1 2
2 1

L q q
p p
L q q
p p
L q q
p p

=


=


=

(4-11)

which coincide with the angular
momentum of 1-, 2- and 3-direction in
three dimensional quantum mechanics.

With Eq. (4-6), the associated canonical
realization of SO(3) algebra is

( )
( )
( )
1 2 3
2 3 1
3 1 2
,
,
,
3 2
1 3
2 1
f q p q p q p
f q p q p q p
f q p q p q p
=
=
=
(4-12)

which may be interpreted as the angular
momentum of 1-, 2- and 3-direction in
three dimensional classical mechanics.
The generators (4-12) satisfy the relation
(4-5) with the same structure constant as in
Eq. (4-10).

Comparing Eqs. (4-11) and (4-12), or in
general, Eqs. (4-6) and (4-7), we may
come to the conclusion that

i i
i
i
q q
p
q

(4-13)

which is the famous first quantization of
quantum mechanics in configuration
representation.

5. Conclusion
The usual treatment of obtaining relation
(4-13) in quantum mechanics is the
calculation of expectation value of
canonical variables in configuration space.
However, since the canonical realization
approach gives the same relation, we may
come to the following conclusions :
The relation (4-13) may be regarded as
the condition to preserve the algebraic
structures in classical and quantum
mechanics.
The relation (4-13) allows us to
replace the Poisson bracket relation in
classical mechanics directly with the
commutation relation in quantum
mechanics.
The relation (4-13), together with Eq.
(4-6), provides us information of
relating any physical observable in
classical mechanics to the associated
observables in quantum mechanics.
For example, for any classical
observables which is expressed in
( ) , f q p , one may straightforwardly
write the associated quantum operator

, f q
q

.

The success of the canonical
realization explaining the first quantization
encourages us to do the same treatment
between classical and quantum fields.
However, since we have to deal with
infinite number of degrees of freedom in
field theory, it seems difficult to do so. A
usual treatment in quantum field theory is
to subject the commutation relation of
raising and lowering operators of
nonrelativistic harmonic oscillator to the
quantum state functions (the so called
second quantization) which is proven to be
the correct treatment in understanding
quantum field theory.
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INTEGRAL, Vol. 9 No. 2, J uli 2004


6. References
1. Goldstein, Herbert, Classical
Mechanics, Addison Wesley,
Massachusetts, 1980.
2. Sudarshan, E.C.G., N. Mukunda,
Classical Dynamics : A Modern
Perspective, J ohn Wiley and Sons,
New York, 1974.
3. Sutanto, Sylvia H., Struktur Aljabar
dalam Formalisma Kanonik, Thesis
S-1, J urusan Fisika - FMIPA, Institut
Teknologi Bandung, 1991.
4. Gilmore, Robert, Lie Groups, Lie
Algebras and Some of Their
Applications, J ohn Wiley and Sons,
New York, 1974.
5. Pauri, M., G.M. Prosperi, J. Math.
Phys., 366, 1966.
6. Pauri, M., G.M. Prosperi, J. Math.
Phys., 2256, 1967.

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