We show how to implement the background field method by means of canonical transformations and comment on the applications of the method to non-perturbative techniques in non-Abelian gauge theories. We discuss the case of the lattice in some details.
We construct explicitly the canonical transformation that controls the full dependence (local and non-local) of the vertex functional of a Yang-Mills theory on a background field. After showing that the canonical transformation found is nothing but a
direct field-theoretic generalization of the Lie transform of classical analytical mechanics, we comment on a number of possible applications, and in particular the non perturbative implementation of the background field method on the lattice, the background field formulation of the two particle irreducible formalism, and, finally, the formulation of the Schwinger-Dyson series in the presence of topologically non-trivial configurations.
