Paper detail

On canonical transformations of gravitational variables in extended phase space

Last years a certain attention was attracted to the statement that Hamiltonian formulations of General Relativity, in which different parametrizations of gravitational variables were used, may not be related by a canonical transformation. The example was given by the Hamiltonian formulation of Dirac and that of Arnowitt - Deser - Misner. It might witness for non-equivalence of these formulations and the original (Lagrangian) formulation of General Relativity. The problem is believed to be of importance since many authors make use of various representations of gravitational field as a starting point in searching a way to reconcile the theory of gravity with quantum principles. It can be shown that the mentioned above conclusion about non-equivalence of different Hamiltonian formulations is based on the consideration of canonical transformations in phase space of physical degrees of freedom only, while the transformations also involve gauge degrees of freedom. We shall give a clear proof that Hamiltonian formulations corresponding to different parametrizations of gravitational variables are related by canonical transformations in extended phase space embracing gauge degrees of freedom on an equal footing with physical ones. It will be demonstrated for the full gravitational theory in a wide enough class of parametrizations and gauge conditions.