Abstract
A rigorous formulation of the connection between nonergodicity (degeneration) of the motion of a Hamiltonian system and existence of global constants of motion (isolating integrals) is proposed. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of a properly defined kind of complete degeneration are given. Finally, a wide‐spread opinion is criticized about the mutual implications between complete degeneration and separability of the Hamilton‐Jacobi equation in more than one coordinate systems.

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