Canonical transformation

In Hamiltonian mechanics, a canonical transformation is a change of canonical coordinates (q, p) → (Q, P) that preserves the form of Hamilton's equations. This is sometimes known as form invariance. Although Hamilton's equations are preserved, it need not preserve the explicit form of the Hamiltonian itself. Canonical transformations are useful in their own right, and also form the basis for the Hamilton–Jacobi equations (a useful method for calculating conserved quantities) and Liouville's theorem (itself the basis for classical statistical mechanics).

Since Lagrangian mechanics is based on generalized coordinates, transformations of the coordinates q → Q do not affect the form of Lagrange's equations and, hence, do not affect the form of Hamilton's equations if the momentum is simultaneously changed by a Legendre transformation into $${\displaystyle P_{i}={\frac {\partial L}{\partial {\dot {Q}}_{i}}}\ ,}$$ where ${\displaystyle \left\{\ (P_{1},Q_{1}),\ (P_{2},Q_{2}),\ (P_{3},Q_{3}),\ \ldots \ \right\}}$ are the new co‑ordinates, grouped in canonical conjugate pairs of momenta ${\displaystyle P_{i}}$ and corresponding positions ${\displaystyle Q_{i},}$ for ${\displaystyle i=1,2,\ldots \ N,}$ with ${\displaystyle N}$ being the number of degrees of freedom in both co‑ordinate systems.

Therefore, coordinate transformations (also called point transformations) are a type of canonical transformation. However, the class of canonical transformations is much broader, since the old generalized coordinates, momenta and even time may be combined to form the new generalized coordinates and momenta. Canonical transformations that do not include the time explicitly are called restricted canonical transformations (many textbooks consider only this type).

Modern mathematical descriptions of canonical transformations are considered under the broader topic of symplectomorphism which covers the subject with advanced mathematical prerequisites such as cotangent bundles, exterior derivatives and symplectic manifolds.