IntroductiontoTensors
Contravariantandcovariantvectors
Rotationin2space:
x'=cosx+siny
y'=sinx+cosy
Tofacilitategeneralization,replace(x,y)with(x1,x2)
Prototypecontravariantvector: dr=(dx1,dx2)
=cosdx1+sindx2
Similarlyfor
Sameholdsforr,sincetransformationislinear.
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Compactnotation:
(generalizestoanytransformationinaspaceofanydimension)
Contravariantvector:
Nowconsiderascalarfield(r):Howdoestransformunder
rotations?
appearsratherthan
ForrotationsinEuclideannspace:
where=anglebtwn
and
axes
Itisnotthecaseforallspacesandtransformationsthat
sowedefineanewtypeofvectorthattransformslikethegradient:
Covariantvectors:
ExplicitdemonstrationforrotationsinEuclidean2space:
WhataboutvectorsinMinkowskispace?
but
=>contravariantandcovariant
vectorsaredifferent!
Recap(forarbitraryspaceandtransformation)
Contravariantvector:
Covariantvector:
Forfutureconvenience,definenewnotationforpartialderivatives:
Note:
=Kroneckerdelta=1ifi=j,0ifij
Tensors
ConsideranNdimensionalspace(witharbitrarygeometry)and
anobjectwithcomponents
inthe
inthe
coordsystemand
coordsystem.
Thisobjectisamixedtensor,contravariantini...kandcovariantin
l...n,underthecoordtransformation
if
Rankoftensor,M=numberofindices
Totalnumberofcomponents=NM
Vectorsarefirstranktensorsandscalarsarezeroranktensors.
IfspaceisEuclideanNspaceandtransformationisrotationof
Cartesiancoords,thentensoriscalledaCartesiantensor.
InMinkowskispaceandunderPoincartransformations,tensorsare
Lorentztensors,or,4tensors.
Zerotensor0hasallitscomponentszeroinallcoordsystems.
Maintheoremoftensoranalysis:
Iftwotensorsofthesametypehavealltheircomponentsequalin
onecoordsystem,thentheircomponentsareequalinallcoordsystems.
Einstein'ssummationconvention:repeatedupperandlower
indices=>summation
e.g.:
AiBicouldalsobewrittenAjBj;indexisadummyindex
Anotherexample:
jandkaredummyindices;iisafreeindex
Summationconventionalsoemployedwith
,etc.
Exampleofasecondranktensor:Kroneckerdelta
SP5.12
TensorAlgebra(operationsformakingnewtensorsfromoldtensors)
[Link]:addcomponents:
Proofthatsum
isatensor:
(foronecase)
[Link]:multiplycomponents:e.g.,
[Link]:replaceonesuperscriptandonesubscriptbya
dummyindexpair
e.g.,
Resultisascalarifnofreeindicesremain.
e.g,
10
11
[Link]:contractioninconjunctionwithouterproduct
e.g.:
Again,resultisascalarifnofreeindicesremain,e.g,
[Link]:e.g.,
SP5.35
DifferentiationofTensors
Notation:
,etc.
12
IFtransformationislinear
(sothatp'sareallconstant)
=>derivativeofatensorwrtacoordinateisatensoronlyfor
lineartransformations(likerotationsandLTs)
Similarly,differentiationwrtascalar(e.g.,)yieldsatensorfor
lineartransformations.
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NowspecializetoRiemannianspaces
characterizedbyametric
Assume
If
with
issymmetric:
(nolossofgenerality,since
theyonlyappearinpairs)
,thenspaceisstrictlyRiemannian
(e.g.,EuclideanNspace)
Otherwise,spaceispseudoRiemannian(e.g.,Minkowskispace)
iscalledthemetrictensor.
Notethatthemetrictensormaybeafunctionofpositioninthespace.
Proofthat
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isatensor:
(sincedxiisavector)
(2setsofdummyindices)
=>
It'stemptingtodivideby
andconclude
Butthere'sadoublesumoverk'andl',sothisisn'tpossible.
Instead,suppose
=>
=1ifi'=1
=0otherwise
Similarlyfor
,etc.
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Nowsuppose
=1ifi'=1or2
=0otherwise
Onlycontributingtermsare:k'=1,l'=1k'=1,l'=2
k'=2,l'=1k'=2,l'=2
0
since
issymmetric.
sinceiandjaredummyindices.
=>
Similarlyforall
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Generaldefinitionofthescalarproduct:
Define
astheinversematrixof
isalsoatensor,sinceapplyingtensortransformationyields
,whichdefines
astheinverseof
Raisingandloweringofindices:anothertensoralgebraicoperation,
definedforRiemannianspaces=innerproductofatensorwiththe
metrictensor
e.g.:
Note:covariantandcontravariantindicesmustbestaggeredwhen
raisingandloweringisanticipated.
4tensors
InallcoordsystemsinMinkowskispace:
=>
e.g:
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UnderstandardLorentztransformations:
Alltheotherp'sarezero.
e.g.:
SP5.610