Poisson Brackets and Constants of the Motion (Dana Longcope 1/11/05) Poisson brackets are a powerful and sophisticated

tool in the Hamiltonian formalism of Classical Mechanics. They also happen to provide a direct link between classical and quantum mechanics. A classical system with N degrees of freedom, say a set of N/3 particles in three dimensions,
is described by 2N phase space coordinates. These are the N generalized coordinates q1, q2, . . . qN

and N conjugate momenta p1, p2,. . . pN . The systems Hamiltonian depends on these 2N variables and possibly on time t as well
H(q1, q2, . . . qN , p1, p2, . . . pN , t) = H(qi, pi, t) ,

where the second expression is a more concise way of expressing the fact that H depends on al l
coordinates, qi , and all momenta pi (implicitly we take i = 1, 2, . . . N ).

The Poisson bracket is an operation which takes two functions of phase space and time, call
them F (qi ,pi, t) and G(qi, pi, t) and produces a new function. It is de ned1
N

{F, G} =
j=1

F G qj pj

- F G
q1

pj

G qj

(1) G
p2

= F

G
q1 p1

- F

p1

+ F

q2

- F

p2

G q2 + + F qN

G
pN

- F

G
qN

pN

Thats all there is to it. To take the Poisson bracket of two functions you need only evaluate all partial derivatives and assemble them in a sum of products. Each term in the sum contains one derivative of F and one derivative of G; one of the derivatives is with respect to a coordinate qj

and the other is with respect to the conjugate momentum pj. The terms change sign depending on which function is di erentiated w.r.t. the coordinate and which w.r.t. the momentum. In the case of a single degree of freedom, N = 1, phase space is 2-dimensional: (q, p) and the Poisson bracket has only two terms {F,G} = F q G p- F G p q.

Taking, for example, F (p, q) = p - q and G(p, q) = sin(q ), the Poisson bracket is {p - q, sin(q)} = (p - q) q sin(q ) p
=0

- (p - q) p
=+1

sin(q ) q
=cos(q)

= - cos(q)

=-1

To see why the Poisson bracket is useful recall the form of Hamiltons equations
qi = H

pi

, pi = - H

qi

, i = 1, 2, . .. N .

(2)

These describe how the phase space coordinates qi (t) and pi(t) of a particular particle vary in time as a result of the Hamiltonian H(qi, pi, t). That particle will see a particular value of the function
1 Many authors use square brackets to write the Poisson bracket: [F, G]. This is the same way we will later write

the commutator in quantum mechanics. We will use curly brackets for the Poisson bracket to avoid confusion later on.

F(qi ,pi, t) at each time. This value can vary for two reasons: 1. the phase space coordinates of the particle are changing and 2. the function F depends explicitly on time. The total time derivative accounts for both e ects through the magic of the chain rule: dF dt = F =
j=1

dq1 q1
N

dq2

dqN

dp1

dpN

dt + F q2 dt + + F qN
F qj qj + F pj pj + F

dt + F p1

dt + + F pN

dt + F t ,

t.
qj and pj H pj

We can use Hamiltons equations (2) to eliminate dF dt =

N j=1

F
qj

- F

H
qj

pj

+ F t.

The sum in this expression is (not coincidentally) the Poisson bracket. This means that the time evolution of an arbitrary function of phase space is given by dF dt = {F, H} + F t. (3)

In fact, after using Hamiltons equations to arrive at expression (3) we can, if we like, forget
about them entirely and use equation (3) as the de nition of all time derivatives. Taking the particular choice F (qi, pi, t) = q1 we can quickly verify that
q1 = {q1, H} + q1

t
=0

= H

p1

since q1/ pj = 0 always, and q1/ qj = 0 as long as j = 1. This is the rst of Hamiltons equations. This same trick will work for p1 to give the second equation:
p1 = {p1, H} + p1

t
=0

=- H

q1

And similarly for qi and pi for all other is. Thus Hamiltons equations follow from (3). There are two very useful properties of the Poisson bracket which can be easily check by manipulating the de nition (1). 1. The Poisson bracket is anti-symmetric in its two arguments {G, F } = - {F, G} . An immediate consequence of this is that {F, F} = 0 for any function at all. 2. The Poisson bracket is linear in either of its arguments
{F1 + F2, G} = {F1, G} + {F2, G} , {F, G1 + G2} = {F,G1} + {F, G2} .

Constants of the Motionto break the Poisson bracket with the Hamiltonian into two smaller pieces Linearity allows us
The Poisson bracket displays its, true=power in V } = {Lz , for constants}of the motion. A constant of {Lz H} {Lz, T + the search T } + {Lz , V . the motion is some function of phase space, independent of time, F (qi, pi ), whose value is constant for any particle. In other words,momenta thea rst bracket on the right if dF/dt =twoSince we Since T depends only on F(qi, pi ) is constant of the motion has only 0. non-vanishing speci ed that F does not depend explicitly in time it follows that F/ t = 0. This means that terms: T T px F is a constant of the motion if and only + Lz H} = 0 for all points inpy if {F, phase space. {Lz ,T } = Lz = py x px y py m = 0 . (5) m - px All of the familiar constants of the motion can be checked using this one simple prescription Other terms, such as -( Lz / px )( T/ x) vanish since derivatives of T w.r.t. coordinates, such as x, will always be zero. V depends only on coordinates so the second bracket has two Energy: First of all {H, H} = 0 always due to the anti-symmetry of the Poisson bracket. di erent non-vanishing terms: Using this in (3) we quickly nd that
{Lz ,V } = - Lz px

V V dH xdt Lz H t . y = y V x - x V y . (6) - = py

(4)

If youre not clear on theand y only in the combination r = x2 + y2 + z2 equation use the chain Since V depends on x di erence between total and partial derivatives this we can appearsto writeit is not. The derivative on the right is taken at a xed point in phase space, rule trivial; (q1, q2, . . . ,pN ), while the one on the left is taken by following a particle along as it moves

V through phase space. The fact that these two derivatives give the same result should strike x=x y=y x2 + y2 + z2 V (r) . you as truly remarkable. x2 + y2 + z2 V (r) , V In those cases where Hamiltonian does not depend on time explicitly H/ t = 0. Using Using these in (6) yields {Lz , V } = 0 regardless ofis a constantactuallymotion: Energy is (5) this in (4) gives the immediate result that H(qi , pi) what V (r) of the is. Combined with this means in cases where=theand the z-angular momentum is a constant of the motion. conserved that {Lz , H} 0 Hamiltonian is time-indep endent. Following similar steps it can be shown that the other two components of angular momentum Linear Momentum: In a case where the Hamiltonian does not contain a particular coorLx = ypz - zpy , Ly = zpx - xpz , dinate, qk, explicitly it is said to be cyclic in that coordinate. Applying the de nition (1) directly we nd that are also constants of the motion: {Lx, H} = 0 and {Ly, H} = 0. Therefore for a particle moving in a central force potential all {pk,H} = - H three comp onents of angular momentum are =0 qk conserved. so pk is a constant of the motion: Momentum is conserved if it is conjugate to a cyclic coordinate. For the Hamiltonian (1.13) in Libo Lz is a constant of the motion. Without recourse to Poisson
brackets, however, the book can only show this by transforming into spherical coordinates to get Angular Momentum: Consider a particle in three a cyclic coordinate and therefore the new Hamiltonian (1.20). Only then is it apparent that f isdimension, (x, y, z), subject to a centralthat pf force potentialthe motion. (A little further manipulation, see problem 1.5, shows that is a constant of V (x, y, z) = V x2 + y2 + z2 , pf = Lz.) The power of the Poisson bracket is that it allows one to identify constants of the motion regadless of which coordinates you choose to use. In this case we can quickly see this even in where r = x2 + cartesian coordinates:y2 + z2 is distance from the origin. The Hamiltonian can be written as the sum of the kinetic and potential energy
{Lz, V } = Lz , qF0 H(px, py, pz, x, y, z) = p2 qF0 2m + p2 2m + p2 2m
T (px,py ,pz )

d z = - Lz y x

z pz

+ V x2 + y2 + z2 .

d=0.

Angular momentum about the z axis is de ned by the function

Lz = xpy - ypx .

4 3