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Canonical Transformations in Quantum Mechanics

Three elementary canonical transformations are shown both to have quantum implementations as finite transformations and to generate, classically and infinitesimally, the full canonical algebra. A general canonical transformation can, in principle, be realized quantum mechanically as a product of these transformations. It is found that the intertwining of two super-Hamiltonians is equivalent to there being a canonical transformation between them. A consequence is that the procedure for solving a differential equation can be viewed as a sequence of elementary canonical transformations trivializing the super-Hamiltonian associated to the equation. It is proposed that the quantum integrability of a system is equivalent to the existence of such a sequence.

Canonical transformations are a powerful tool of classical mechanics whose strength has not been fully realized in quantum mechanics. Despite work by Dirac [1] and others [2,3,4,5], there is a persistent distrust of the utility of canonical transformations in quantum mechanics. The general feeling lies between believing they can't be used in quantum mechanics and thinking that at best they are of only limited interest. The truth, however, is that effectively all exactly solvable problems in quantum mechanics are, or can be, solved by canonical transformations. Each of the familiar tools for integrating a differential equation-change of variables, extracting a factor from the dependent variable, Fourier transform, etc.-has a realization as a canonical transformation. Only procedures whose origins lie in approximation, such as power series expansion, are not essentially canonical transformations.
By making the quantum implementation of canonical transformations explicit, the mechanics of solving differential equations is made more transparent. This is especially useful in problems of more than one variable where notational complications begin to cloud insight. Furthermore, the usefulness of canonical transformations is not limited to exactly solvable problems; they can also be important in preparing a problem for approximation. As well, by bringing to quantum mechanics a tool so central to our understanding of classical mechanics, our grasp of their relationship is deepened, and new lines of investigation are opened.
Perhaps most significantly, canonical transformations provide a unifying structure in which to study quantum integrability. The method of intertwining [6], in which one constructs an operator D which transforms between two operators H (1) D = DH (0) (1) so that their eigenfunctions are related has already been proposed for this role [7]. This is because it underlies the factorization method of Infeld and Hull [8], supersymmetry in quantum mechanics [9], and Lie algebraic methods [10], which together solve most integrable problems in quantum mechanics. The method of intertwining was limited in the past by the need to make an ansatz for the intertwining operator D. We shall see that the intertwining operator is simply the canonical transformation between H (0) and H (1) . This observation considerably deepens one's intuition for constructing intertwining operators. In addition, it explains why intertwining underlies the Lie algebraic methods [11]: the symmetry group preserving the form of a differential equation is a subgroup of the full canonical group. More, the infinite-dimensional Kac-Moody algebra associated, for example, with the soliton solutions of the KdV equation, is explained through the Lax formalism because it is a subalgebra of the full canonical algebra.
In the following, three elementary canonical transformations and their quantum implementations will be introduced. Using these, several additional composite elementary transformations will be constructed. It will be shown that, classically, the infinitesimal forms of these transformations generate the full algebra of canonical transformations. This implies that in principle we have the tools to make any quantum canonical transformation.
In practice, we are limited to composing a certain collection of finite transformations. These transformations will be recognized as familiar tools for solving differential equations: changes of variable, similarity (gauge) transformations, Fourier transform. In addition, the standard first order differential intertwining operator will be realized as a canonical transformation. It is noteworthy because it is a transformation whose action is simpler in the quantum context than in the classical. Finally, a few examples are done to illustrate various aspects of the use of canonical transformations. Many more complicated examples follow straightforwardly by use of the differential intertwining canonical transformation.
As this paper was being prepared, the author became aware of recent work by Leyvraz and Seligman [13] and Deenen [12] which overlaps in part with the results given here.
1 Formal aspects

Introduction
The canonical transformations discussed in this paper may be applied to any wave equation. For convenience, attention will be focused on the non-relativistic Schrödinger equation. The presumption is that the wavefunctions of an initial equation are of interest, and the intent is to construct them by canonically transforming to simpler equations.
Since canonical transformations involving the time q 0 and its conjugate momentum p 0 are useful, it is profitable to work in the extended phase space in which these are adjoined to the spatial coordinates and momenta [14]. The Schrödinger operator is the super-Hamiltonian where q, p are used to denote all of the extended phase space coordinates. For notational convenience, only one spatial degree of freedom is indicated explicitly. The Schrödinger equation in the coordinate representation is the constraint equation A canonical transformation is performed by applying an operator, say P , on the left of the super-Hamiltonian constraint equation and rewriting the result as a new constraint This gives the transformed super-Hamiltonian and the transformed wavefunction The operators P , P −1 can be brought inside the super-Hamiltonian to act directly on the phase space coordinates This is possible for any function on phase space possessing a Laurent expansion about some point, as can be seen by expanding the function, applying the transformation and resumming. In practice it holds for all super-Hamiltonians of interest. Since the canonical commutation relations are preserved by this transformation the effect is to transform the original phase space coordinates by the canonical transformation, which was the object. Note that (6) is the same as the intertwining condition (1). This establishes the equivalence of the canonical transformation P and the intertwining operator D.
The goal of constructing the wavefunctions of H (0) is attained if, by a sequence of canonical transformations, one can transform to an H (1) which is known to be integrable. It is conjectured that a super-Hamiltonian is integrable if and only if it can be canonically transformed to the trivial super-Hamiltonian The canonical transformation to a trivial super-Hamiltonian has special significance in classical mechanics: this transformation makes all the variables constants of the motion, and these constants may be chosen to be the initial conditions of the system. Inverting this transformation classically solves the equations of motion. The inner product is assumed to be conserved (where q runs over a spatial hypersurface [15]). This determines a transformed measure density, which in turn may be used to define the adjoint of P . Under this definition, P † P = 1, and P is seen to be a unitary transformation. In the general case, the measure density may be operator-valued-consider, for example, the Wronskian operator appearing in the Klein-Gordon inner product. Details of the transformation of the measure density will not be discussed in this paper; they are straightforward to work out from the inner product.

Infinitesimal Canonical Transformations
Classically, an infinitesimal canonical transformation is generated by an (infinitesimal) generating function F (q, p) [16]. Associated to this generating function is the Hamiltonian whose action on a function u on phase space is the infinitesimal transformation where {F, u} is the classical Poisson bracket. Through the correspondence between classical and quantum theory in which Poisson brackets go over into commutator brackets times i, this canonical transformation can be expressed in terms of the quantum operator Because of operator ordering ambiguities in defining the quantum versions ofF andû, the classical and quantum expressions for the infinitesimal transformation can differ by higher order terms inh (at the same order of ǫ).
In the equations that follow, quantum variables are not distinguished notationally from classical ones. Unless otherwise stated, all variables are handled according to their familiar quantum contexts, e.g. as operators in Hamiltonians and as c-numbers in wavefunctions. Products of operators are assumed to be ordered as written; classical versions are obtained by allowing p and q to commute.
There are three elementary canonical transformations in one-variable which have wellknown implementations as finite quantum transformations. They are similarity (gauge) transformations, point canonical (coordinate) transformations and the interchange of coordinates and momenta. By finding the algebra generated by the infinitesimal versions of these transformations, the class of transformations that can be reached with them can be determined. The somewhat surprising result is that classically they generate the full canonical algebra.
The significance of this classical result is that since each of the elementary and composite elementary transformations has a quantum implementation as a finite transformation, in principle any general canonical transformation can be implemented quantum mechanically. In practice at present, one is limited to finite products of the transformations. Nevertheless this is a very powerful tool for solving problems in quantum mechanics.
Similarity (gauge) transformations are infinitesimally generated by F S = f (q). Point canonical transformations are infinitesimally generated by F P = f (q)p. The discrete transformation I interchanging the role of coordinate and momentum is Using the interchange operator, composite elementary transformations which are nonlinear in the momentum can be formed. They are the composite similarity transformation, infinitesimally generated by and the composite point canonical transformation, infinitesimally generated by Each of these corresponds to a finite transformation through application of the interchange operator to the finite forms of the similarity and point canonical transformations. The many-variable generalization of the similarity transformation is straightforward. It is infinitesimally generated by F Sn = f (q 1 , . . . , q n ). Interchanging any set of coordinates with their conjugate momenta gives the composite many-variable similarity transformations. For example, in two variables, one has the infinitesimal generating functions The observation is now made that classically the algebra generated by the elementary and composite elementary transformations is the full canonical algebra where F, G are arbitrary functions on phase space. It is to be expected that Hamiltonian vector fields will have this algebraic structure. More surprising is that the above collection of generating functions produce a general function on phase space through the Poisson bracket operation. This is verified by taking commutators of the different types of transformations. Consider the two-variable case-the many-variable case follows similarly. Introducing the monomial generating functions where j, k, n, m ∈ Z, the Poisson bracket of two of these is Inspection shows that a general monomial can be constructed by beginning with the monomial forms , which generate the elementary and composite elementary canonical transformations.
By taking linear combinations, one can form any function having a Laurent expansion about some point (not necessarily the origin). To avoid having to use formal Laurent expansions about nonzero points for functions like q 1/2 or ln q, greater generality is obtained by working with generating functions of the form This produces any function which can be represented as a sum of separable products.

Quantum Implementations
Each of the elementary canonical transformations can be implemented quantum mechanically as a finite transformation. Their action is collected in Fig. 1, and each will be reviewed below. The interchange of coordinates and momenta is implemented through the Fourier transform operator for which it is evident that The wavefunction is transformed The inverse interchange is It is implemented by the inverse Fourier transform The similarity transformation in one-variable is implemented by the operator where f (q) is an arbitrary function of the coordinates. This induces the canonical transformation The composite similarity transformation is implemented by applying the interchange operator to S f (q ) to exchange coordinates for momentum in f . In the one-variable case, the composite similarity transformation operator is It produces the canonical transformation In the many-variable case, the function f may involve either the coordinate or its conjugate momentum for each variable. Because the different variables commute amongst themselves, each responds to the (composite) similarity operator as if it were a onevariable operator in that variable, and the other variables are treated as parameters. Thus, for each coordinate (momentum) of which f is a function, the corresponding conjugate momentum (coordinate) is shifted as in the one-variable case.
The finite point canonical transformation takes a different form than the infinitesimal version. The effect of the point canonical transformation P f (q) is to implement the change of variables The effect of P f (q) on the wavefunction is The composite point canonical transformation is formed by composition with the interchange operator It has the effect of making a change of variables on the momentum The operator ordering of the transformed q is determined by the action of the interchange operator on the coordinate point canonical transformation. A two-variable generalization is also of interest. It is defined by the canonical transformation Using this, the result of exponentiating the infinitesimal generating function F = g(q 2 )h(q 1 )p 1 can be deduced. Since different variables commute, the action of e −iF on p 2 is that of a similarity transformation (27) and we have Defining the chain rule simplifies this equation to which has the general solution Since the transformation must reduce to the identity when g = 0, we find This agrees with a result found independently by Deenen. [12] As an explicit example, take g = const and h = q m 1 . The infinitesimal transformation is then that of the Virasoro generators. The finite transformation is (for m = 1) while for m = 1 I remark that for m = 0, 1, 2 these transformations generate the group SL(2, C).
In the one-variable case with g taken to be a constant, Eq. (36) gives the finite transformation produced by the infinitesimal generating function F = gh(q)p. It can also be read as a functional equation which is to be solved for H given f . Not surprisingly, this equation does not have a solution for all f . The implication is that not all point canonical transformations can be expressed as the exponential of an infinitesimal transformation. This is an explicit demonstration of the well-known property of the diffeomorphism group that the exponential map does not cover a neighborhood of the identity [17]. This is a property of infinitedimensional Lie groups and stands in contrast to the situation in finite-dimensional Lie groups.
A corollary is that the product of the exponentials of two generators cannot always be expressed as an exponential of a third generator. For this reason, it is generally not useful to express point canonical transformations in exponential form, but rather to note directly the change of coordinate they produce. (As reassurance, it is true that every point canonical transformation can be expressed as a finite product of exponentials [17].)

Linear Canonical Transformations
The linear canonical transformations form a finite-dimensional subgroup of all canonical transformations, and there has been much interest in them in the context of coherent states [2,3,5]. As canonical transformations, they can be constructed from a product of elementary transformations.
Consider the case of a single variable. A linear composite similarity transformation transforms the wavefunction ψ (a) = e αp a 2 /2 ψ (0) .
(A superscript is used to indicate the generation of the transformation. Roman letters are used to avoid confusion with powers of the variable. Subscripts are used to distinguish variables when necessary.) A linear similarity transformation Finally a scaling of the coordinate The full transformation is with A general SL(2, C) ≡ Sp(2, C) transformation is of the form p = ap ′ + bq ′ , q = cp ′ + dq ′ where ad − bc = 1. This gives the correspondence α = ic/a, β = iab, γ = 1/a. By expressing ψ (0) as the Fourier transform ofψ (0) , an integral representation is found for ψ (1) which does not explicitly involve exponentials of differential operators A related result is given by Moshinsky [4]. The operators p 2 , q 2 , (qp+pq)/2 generate a realization of the SL(2, C) algebra. Since SL(2, C) is a finite-dimensional Lie group, every element of the group can be expressed as an exponential of an element of the algebra. As well, a product of exponentials of elements of the algebra can be expressed as the exponential of another element of the algebra. Thus, a given linear canonical transformation may be expressed in many ways as a product of elementary transformations. Each will give an expression analogous to (41) or (42).
The generalization to many-variables is straightforward. The group of linear canonical transformations is Sp(2n, C), and a realization of it is found from the linear similarity, composite similarity and scaling transformations. Realizations of other finite-dimensional Lie groups in terms of canonical transformations are found by treating them as subgroups of Sp(2n, C).
By expressing the coordinates and momenta in terms of harmonic oscillator creation and annihilation operators, one finds the expressions for the action of linear canonical transformations on coherent states [2,3]. These are useful for handling squeezed states in quantum optics [5].

Intertwining
The most widely known example of intertwining is that of the Darboux transformation between two Hamiltonian operators in potential-form [7] Here, one would like to know what potentials can be reached from a given one by an intertwining transformation (1). In the usual approach, an ansatz is made that the intertwining operator D is a differential operator, and the operator is constructed by requiring that the intertwining relation (1) be satisfied. It is satisfactory to begin with first order operators because the intertwining transformation can be iterated. Since the intertwining operator is a canonical transformation, it can be constructed as a sequence of elementary canonical transformations. The construction is interesting because it involves a transformation in which operator ordering makes the the quantum case simpler than the classical. This is the source of the power of the differential operator ansatz, and it is the first example of a transformation which favors the quantum problem over the classical.
Begin with a Hamiltonian with potential The potential may be cancelled by making a one-variable shift

This gives the Hamiltonian
together with the Ricatti equation The transformed wavefunction is A composite one-variable shift is made on the coordinate This is the key step, and it has such wide application as to merit its own name, the differential intertwining transformation. The transformed coordinate can be expressed as This has the very interesting property for functions with a Laurent expansion. Note that only the first term in the Taylor expansion of g appears-classically the full Taylor expansion would have arisen. This is the essentially new feature of the differential intertwining transformation. The Hamiltonian is then and the transformed wavefunction is The one-variable shift cancels the term linear in the momentum giving the Hamiltonian with the new potential The transformed wavefunction is In terms of the original wavefunction, this is Comparing (46) and (53), the change in potential is The Ricatti equation (46) [or (53)] can be solved to find that g is given by the logarithmic derivative of an eigenfunction of H (0) (or the negative logarithmic derivative of an eigenfunction of H (1) ) with eigenvalue λ. This is the standard result from intertwining [7].
If one inverts (55) to obtain ψ (0) in terms of ψ (1) , an integral operator arises. To obtain a differential operator relation, one may note that taking g → −g interchanges V 0 and V 1 . This implies that Alternatively, a different sequence of canonical transformations can be used which give an integral operator relating ψ (0) to ψ (1) which becomes a differential operator upon inversion. Beginning from H (0) (44), the one-variable shift p = p a + ig(q a ), q = q a gives the Hamiltonian where V 0 satisfies (46). Note that p a has been ordered on the left of g. This is to facilitate the transformation The transformed coordinate has the property that This leads to the transformed Hamiltonian A similarity transformation p b = p ′ − ig(q ′ ), q b = q ′ cancels the linear momentum term, leaving the final Hamiltonian where V 1 is given by (53). The final wavefunction in terms of the original is Inverting this gives the expected differential relation (57). The method of intertwining has been realized in terms of canonical transformations. This means that all of the problems which can be solved by intertwining can be solved with canonical transformations. In particular, this means all problems which are essentially hypergeometric, confluent hypergeometric, or one of their generalizations.

Non-relativistic Free Particle
The non-relativistic free particle is an easily solved problem which doesn't require any sophisticated machinery. It may however serve to illustrate a number of features of the use of canonical transformations, and, for this reason, it will be treated somewhat exhaustively.
The free particle super-Hamiltonian is It may be immediately trivialized by the two-variable similarity transformation The original wavefunction is given in terms of the transformed one by where the solution of the trivialized super-Hamiltonian constraint H (a) ψ (a) = 0 is any q a 0 -independent function. This formula is just the formal expression for the evolution of an initial wavefunction in terms of the exponential of the Hamiltonian. In general, this formal result is insufficiently explicit, but for the free particle, it can be used to find more useful forms of the wavefunction. For example, if the initial wavefunction is taken to be a plane wave ψ (a) = exp(ikq), one finds the plane wave stationary solution If the initial wavefunction is a delta function at x, then using the Fourier integral representation of the delta function, the wavefunction is Acting with the operator inside the integral and integrating the resulting Gaussian gives This is the free particle Green's function.
It is clear that the nature of the wavefunction depends on the initial wavefunction used to generate it. This obvious comment is important to bear in mind because the "natural" solution of a transformed problem will not always correspond to the desired solution. To see this, consider a second approach to the free particle. An interchange transformation is equivalent to taking the Fourier transform of the original super-Hamiltonian and gives The original wavefunction is given by the inverse Fourier transform The new equation H (a) ψ (a) = 0 can be solved "naturally" in two ways. The first is simply to integrate with respect to q 0 . This gives where f (q a ) is an arbitrary q 0 -independent function that arises as an integration constant. One finds the wavefunction This is a less familiar form of the wavefunction-it is of course just a momentum space representation-and it is perhaps not immediately obvious how to obtain the solutions above. Inspection shows that if f = δ(q a + k), one finds the plane wave stationary solution. Alternatively, if f is taken to be then, at q 0 = 0, one has ψ (0) = δ(q − x) and, evaluating the integral, one finds again the Green's function (67). The second "natural" approach is to separate variables This results in the equation which has as its solution (k can have either sign). Now inverting the interchange operation gives the familiar plane wave solution The Green's function solution is however no longer immediate. The first of these approaches can itself be implemented as a canonical transformation. The similarity transformation trivializes the super-Hamiltonian and gives the wavefunction The wavefunction ψ (b) is any q b 0 -independent function. The result for the original wavefunction is then (71).
The second approach of separation of variables is not so much a canonical transformation as a realization of the assertion that the solution space of the super-Hamiltonian has a product structure.

Harmonic Oscillator
The harmonic oscillator is the paradigmatic problem in quantum mechanics, and it is a test piece for any method. Its solution by canonical transformation reemphasizes how the form of a solution is affected by the details of evaluating the product of operators representing the canonical transformation. Also, it is observed that more than one canonical transformation to triviality is needed to obtain both independent solutions of the original Hamiltonian.
The Hamiltonian for the harmonic oscillator is A one-variable similarity transformation p = p a + iωq a , q = q a will cancel the quadratic term in the coordinate leaving This is recognized as the equation for the Hermite polynomials. However, since solution by power series expansion is not a canonical transformation, so much as a method of approximation, additional transformations are needed. The composite one-variable shift cancels the quadratic term in the momentum, giving the Hamiltonian Finally, the point canonical transformation transforms this to action-angle form In terms of the super-Hamiltonian, this is A final two-variable similarity transformation The wavefunction ψ (1) is given in terms of ψ (0) by which may be inverted to find From the eigenfunctions of H (1) ψ (1) n = e nq−i(2n+1)ωq 0 , one has This is the correct (unnormalized) harmonic oscillator eigenfunction. This formula is valid for complex n. Requiring that the wavefunction be normalizable fixes n to be a non-negative real integer. For other n, one finds an infinite power series in 1/q which is divergent at q = 0. As remarked above, H (a) is the Hamiltonian whose solutions are the Hermite polynomials. This implies Given this form, it is immediate that ∂ q is the lowering operator This representation of the Hermite polynomials is unfamiliar because of the operator produced by the composite one-variable similarity transformation between H (a) and H (b) . If this transformation is decomposed into elementary canonical transformations, direct evaluation leads to the more familiar Rodriques' formula for the Hermite polynomials. The decomposed transformation is This may be evaluated by first rewriting q ′ n as (i∂q) n acting on the exponential exp(−iqq ′ ). It may be extracted from the q ′ integral which then gives δ(q). Integrating by parts n times transfers the i∂q operators to act on the remaining exponential terms Completing the square of the argument of the exponential gives from which the purely q part can be extracted from the integral. The −i∂q derivatives act equivalently to −∂ q /2ω derivatives, and after converting them, they can be removed from the integral. This leaves a Gaussian integrated against a delta function which is immediately evaluated. The result is This is proportional to the Rodrigues' formula for the Hermite polynomials From this form, it is immediate that e ξ 2 (−∂ ξ )e −ξ 2 = −∂ ξ + 2ξ is the raising operator.
There is a second linearly-independent solution of the harmonic oscillator which was not obtained by this canonical transformation. This solution is not normalizable, but from the standpoint of simply solving the differential equation, this is not important. A second canonical transformation which trivializes the super-Hamiltonian in a different way produces the other solution. That this should be necessary is not surprising since the original super-Hamiltonian is a second order differential operator while the trivialized one is only first order.
Beginning from the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian (78), the one-variable similarity transformation p = p a − iωq a , q = q a is made to cancel the quadratic term in the coordinate, leaving The composite one-variable shift cancels the quadratic term in the momentum, giving Finally, the point canonical transformation transforms this to action-angle form The super-Hamiltonian can be trivialized by a two-variable similarity transformation, but this is unnecessary. The wavefunction ψ (0) is given in terms of ψ (1) by From the eigenfunctions of H (1) ψ (1) n = e −(n+1)q −i(2n+1)ωq 0 , one has These are clearly not normalizable for any n.
The problem of the inverted harmonic oscillator with Hamiltonian can be solved by the above canonical transformations after ω is replaced by iω. This is a scattering problem, so both independent solutions are delta-function normalizable, with no quantization of n. This emphasizes the importance of both canonical transformations to triviality.

Time-Dependent Harmonic Oscillator
The time-dependent harmonic oscillator can also be solved by canonical transformation. This has been done previously with a different sequence of canonical transformations by Brown [18]. Here, the approach will be to parallel the solution of the time-independent harmonic oscillator in trivializing the super-Hamiltonian. This emphasizes the connection between the time-dependent and time-independent problems. It is conjectured that the parallel structure shown here carries over to time-dependent versions of other exactly soluble problems. One begins with the super-Hamiltonian where the angular frequency ω = ω(q 0 ) is a function of time. The quadratic term in the coordinate is cancelled by making a two-variable similarity transformation generated by F a = f (q 0 )q 2 /2. This gives the super-Hamiltonian This Ricatti equation is linearized by the substitution To go further requires the specific time-dependence of ω(q a 0 ). The next step is to cancel the quadratic term in the momentum with a second twovariable similarity transformation generated by F b = g(q a 0 )p a 2 /2. This gives the super-Hamiltonian This equation can be integrated to find The super-Hamiltonian is then The coordinate change eliminates the coordinate from the super-Hamiltonian Finally, the super-Hamiltonian is trivialized to by the composite two-variable shift generated by The wavefunction ψ (1) is given as Since ψ (1) is any q ′ 0 -independent function, this gives the result The time-independent result is recovered when f = −ω and ψ (1) (q) = e nq . a time-dependent phase factor e in 2 q 0 relative to the usual free-particle eigenfunctions on the circle ψ (0) m = cos mq e −im 2 q 0 .
(The other independent solution is found by using sin mq.) The original wavefunctions are given in terms of the free-particle eigenfunctions by The indexing is determined by the condition that m = 0 corresponds to the normalizable solution with lowest energy. This agrees with the result obtained by the intertwining method [6] and is recognized as a formula for the Gegenbauer polynomials c (n) m (cos q). In principle, this result is valid for real n. For n non-integer, one requires an integral representation of the fractional differential operator. It is likely that this can be constructed by manipulating the definition of the composite similarity transformation in terms of the Fourier transform of an ordinary similarity transformation. This would be analogous to the discussion of the origin of the Rodrigues' formula for the Hermite polynomials. There are subtleties involving endpoints of the integrals which are beyond the scope of this paper. I hope to return to this in a later work.

Conclusion
It has been shown how, using a few elementary canonical transformations which have quantum mechanical implementations, a super-Hamiltonian can be trivialized and, thereby, its solutions found. The fact that the infinitesimal versions of these elementary transformations classically generate the full canonical algebra is argued to imply that in principle any canonical transformation can be implemented quantum mechanically. Issues of operator ordering, to be sure, break the parallel structure between classical and quantum canonical transformations, so that in general different transformations are needed to reach the trivial super-Hamiltonian in each case. This raises the interesting possibility of the inequivalence of classical and quantum integrability.
The method of intertwining was shown to be equivalent to constructing a canonical transformation between the two operators which are intertwined. This lays the foundation for explaining the relation between intertwining and Lie algebraic methods as a consequence of the fact that the dynamical symmetry group of a system is a subgroup of the infinite-dimensional group of canonical transformations. This explanation should extend as well to the infinite-dimensional symmetry groups behind the integrability of nonlinear systems like the Korteweg-deVries equation. These topics will be addressed in a later work [11].
The key step in the construction of a differential intertwining operator was recognized as a particular composite similarity transformation, given the name of the differential intertwining transformation (48). This transformation has the remarkable property of being much simpler in the quantum case than in the classical, due to the noncommutativity of the coordinate and momentum operators. Because of its role in the differential intertwining operator, this transformation is key to the integration of all differential equations of hypergeometric type and their generalizations. More, the differential relations among hypergeometric functions of different indices and all formulae of the Rodrigues' type can be explained with it in terms of canonical transformations.
The applications of canonical transformations discussed here only begin to explore the possibilities. My expectation is that the convenience of the language of canonical transformations will be found to be most powerful in problems in many-variables where conventional methods have been less well developed. This is a subject for future work.
This work was supported in part by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Les Fonds FCAR du Québec.