On a direct method for the determination of an exact invariant for the time-dependent harmonic oscillator

Abstract

An exact invariant is found for the one-dimensional oscillator with equation of motion . The method used is that of linear canonical transformations with time-dependent coeffcients. This is a new approach to the problem and has the advantage of simplicity. When f(t) and g(t) are zero, the invariant is related to the well-known Lewis invariant. The significance of extension to higher dimension of these results is indicated, in particular for the existence of non-invariance dynamical symmetry groups.