Quasigroup of Local-Symmetry Transformations in Constrained Theories

Abstract

In the framework of the generalized Hamiltonian formalism by Dirac, the local symmetries of dynamical systems with first- and second-class constraints are investigated in the general case without restrictions on the algebra of constraints. The method of constructing the generator of local-symmetry transformations is obtained from the requirement for them to map the solutions of the Hamiltonian equations of motion into the solutions of the same equations. It is proved that second-class constraints do not contribute to the transformation law of the local symmetry entirely stipulated by all the first-class constraints (and only by them) of an equivalent set passing to which from the initial constraint set is always possible and is presented. A mechanism of occurrence of higher derivatives of coordinates and group parameters in the symmetry transformation law in the Noether second theorem is elucidated. In the latter case it is shown that the obtained transformations of symmetry are canonical in the extended (by Ostrogradsky) phase space. It is thereby shown in the general case that the degeneracy of theories with the first- and second-class constraints is due to their invariance under local-symmetry transformations. It is also shown in the general case that the action functional and the corresponding Hamiltonian equations of motion are invariant under the same quasigroup of local-symmetry transformations.