The commutation laws of relativistic field theory

Abstract

Abstract A definition of Poisson brackets is given which is related to the action principle, but does not require the introduction of canonical variables. This permits the laws for forming both the commutators of canonical theory and the anticommutators of Fermi-Dirac particles to be stated in a manifestly covariant way. Examples of the use of this method are given. The last section discusses tentatively the extension to the case of equations which cannot be written in canonical form.