Manifest symplecticity in classical scattering

A bstract The Liouville theorem states that classical time evolution is an incompressible flow in phase space. We investigate two formulations of classical mechanics in which this property is manifested. First, the traditional Hamilton-Jacobi theory provides an in-out formalism. Second, a recent idea employing an exponential representation of time evolution provides an in-in formalism. Through explicit examples, it is demonstrated that the on-shell action in the former and the exponential generator in the latter are disparate objects. Still, a concrete relation between the two is identified in terms of a matching calculation. A strictly classical derivation and formulation of classical scattering theory is provided.