Lagrangean Approach to Hamiltonian Gauge Symmetries and the Dirac Conjecture

Abstract

Using well known Lagrangean techniques for uncovering the gauge symmetries of a Lagrangean, we derive the transformation laws for the phase space variables corresponding to local symmetries of the Hamilton equations of motion. These transformation laws are shown to coincide with those derived by Hamiltonian methods based on the Dirac conjecture. The connection between the Lagrangean and Hamiltonian approach is illustrated for first class systems involving one primary constraint.