Role of surface integrals in the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity

It is shown that if the phase space of general relativity is defined so as to contain the trajectories representing solutions of the equations of motion then, for asymptotically flat spaces, the Hamiltonian does not vanish but its value is given rather by a nonzero surface integral. If the deformations of the surface on which the state is defined are restricted so that the surface moves asymptotically parallel to itself in the time direction, then the surface integral gives directly the energy of the system, prior to fixing the coordinates or solving the constraints. Under more general conditions (when asymptotic Poincaré transformations are allowed) the surface integrals giving the total momentum and angular momentum also contribute to the Hamiltonian. These quantities are also identified without reference to a particular fixation of the coordinates. When coordinate conditions are imposed the associated reduced Hamiltonian is unambiguously obtained by introducing the solutions of the constraints into the surface integral giving the numerical value of the unreduced Hamiltonian. In the present treatment there are therefore no divergences that cease to be divergences after coordinate conditions are imposed. The procedure of reduction of the Hamiltonian is explicity carried out for two cases: (a) Maximal slicing, (b) ADM coordinate conditions.A Hamiltonian formalism which is manifestly covariant under Poincaré transformations at infinity is presented. In such a formalism the ten independent variables describing the asymptotic location of the surface are introduced, together with corresponding conjugate momenta, as new canonical variables in the same footing with the g_ij, π^ij. In this context one may fix the coordinates in the “interior” but still leave open the possibility of making asymptotic Poincaré transformations. In that case all ten generators of the Poincaré group are obtained by inserting the solution of the constraints into corresponding surface integrals.