Constraint algebra Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
The Poisson brackets of first-class constraints close on the constraints. When the constraints are independent and the coefficients are constant, the Jacobi identity for the Poisson bracket makes the coefficients structure constants of a Lie algebra.
A function is an integral of motion of when it is constant along every trajectory of the Hamiltonian flow. Infinitesimally,
The antisymmetry of a Lie bracket of the Poisson bracket gives . Hence is also an integral of motion of .
For the commuting assertion, , because is closed. The contraction identity for a Lie bracket of vector fields then gives
Since the symplectic form is a nondegenerate bilinear form at every point, the Hamiltonian vector fields commute:
With the chosen convention the general identity is . Equivalently, it follows by applying the Jacobi identity for the Poisson bracket to an arbitrary test function. Local flows commute whenever both compositions are defined; no global completeness assumption is needed.
The Jacobi identity for the Poisson bracket implies
For first-class constraints with linearly independent differentials this gives , the Jacobi identity for the structure constants of the constraint algebra. Independence is an implicit assumption: for constraints obeying identities or vanishing identically, only the contracted identity follows, and arbitrary coefficients multiplying such constraints need not satisfy a Lie algebra identity.
With and , the canonical variables transform as
To fix the sign convention, vary the phase-space action directly:
Thus action invariance requires . For , the Faddeev-Popov determinant is that of
Using anticommuting Faddeev-Popov ghost fields, the invariant-convention result is
The original PDF has a sign error in the stated multiplier transformation; the TeX transcription has the consistent plus sign. Keeping the PDF's displayed minus sign mechanically would instead give . That expression exponentiates the determinant of the printed transformation, but that transformation does not preserve the stated action with the canonical convention above. It cannot be used as the invariant result without changing another convention consistently.
As for the particle, constant multiplier moduli and any residual zero mode in field theory must be handled separately; the constant gauge fixing is understood locally on the gauge orbit.
Let and be conserved quantities, allowing explicit time dependence. Then
Using bilinearity of the Poisson bracket, commutation of partial differentiation with it, and the Jacobi identity for the Poisson bracket,
Thus is also conserved.
The Jacobi identity for the Poisson bracket is
For quantities with no explicit time dependence,
If and are conserved, the first two terms of the Jacobi identity vanish. Hence
or, by antisymmetry,
Thus the poisson bracket of conserved quantities is itself conserved.