The Levi-Civita tensor

October 25, 2012

In 3-dimensions, we dene the Levi-Civita tensor,
ijk
, to be totally antisymmetric, so we get a minus
sign under interchange of any pair of indices. We work throughout in Cartesian coordinate. This means that
most of the 27 components are zero, since, for example,

212
=
212
if we imagine interchanging the two 2s. This means that the only nonzero components are the ones for which
i, j and k all take dierent value. There are only six of these, and all of their values are determined once we
choose any one of them. Dene

123
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Then by antisymmetry it follows that

123
=
231
=
312
= +1

132
=
213
=
321
= 1
All other components are zero.
Using
ijk
we can write index expressions for the cross product and curl. The i
th
component of the cross
product is given by
[u v]
i
=
ijk
u
j
v
k
as we check by simply writing out the sums for each value of i,
[u v]
1
=
1jk
u
j
v
k
=
123
u
2
v
3
+
132
u
3
v
2
+ (all other terms are zero)
= u
2
v
3
u
3
v
2
[u v]
2
=
2jk
u
j
v
k
=
231
u
3
v
1
+
213
u
1
v
3
= u
3
v
1
u
1
v
3
[u v]
3
=
3jk
u
j
v
k
= u
1
v
2
u
2
v
1
We get the curl simply by replacing u
i
by
i
=

xi
,
[v]
i
=
ijk

j
v
k
If we sum these expressions with basis vectors e
i
, where e
1
= i, e
2
= j, e
3
= k, we may write these as vectors:
u v = [u v]
i
e
i
=
ijk
u
j
v
k
e
i
v =
ijk
e
i

j
v
k
1
There are useful identities involving pairs of Levi-Civita tensors. The most general is

ijk

lmn
=
il

jm

kn
+
im

jn

kl
+
in

jl

km

il

jn

km

in

jm

kl

im

jl

kn
To check this, rst notice that the right side is antisymmetric in i, j, k and antisymmetric in l, m, n. For
example, if we interchange i and j, we get

jik

lmn
=
jl

im

kn
+
jm

in

kl
+
jn

il

km

jl

in

km

jn

im

kl

jm

il

kn
Now interchange the rst pair of Kronecker deltas in each term, to get i, j, k in the original order, then
rearrange terms, then pull out an overall sign,

jik

lmn
=
im

jl

kn
+
in

jm

kl
+
il

jn

km

in

jl

km

im

jn

kl

il

jm

kn
=
il

jm

kn

im

jn

kl

in

jl

km
+
il

jn

km
+
in

jm

kl
+
im

jl

kn
= (
il

jm

kn
+
im

jn

kl
+
in

jl

km

il

jn

km

in

jm

kl

im

jl

kn
)
=
ijk

lmn
Total antisymmetry means that if we know one component, the others are all determined uniquely. Therefore,
set i = l = 1, j = m = 2, k = n = 3, to see that

123

123
=
11

22

33
+
12

23

31
+
13

21

32

11

23

32

13

22

31

12

21

33
=
11

22

33
= 1
Check one more case. Let i = 1, j = 2, k = 3 again, but take l = 3, m = 2, n = 1. Then we have

123

321
=
13

22

31
+
12

21

33
+
11

23

32

13

21

32

11

22

33

12

23

31
=
11

22

33
= 1
as expected.
We get a second identity by setting n = k and summing,

ijk

lmk
=
il

jm

kk
+
im

jk

kl
+
ik

jl

km

il

jk

km

ik

jm

kl

im

jl

kk
= 3
il

jm
+
im

jl
+
im

jl

il

jm

il

jm
3
im

jl
= (3 1 1)
il

jm
(3 1 1)
im

jl
=
il

jm

im

jl
so we have a much simpler, and very useful, relation

ijk

lmk
=
il

jm

im

jl
A second sum gives another identity. Setting m = j and summing again,

ijk

ljk
=
il

mm

im

ml
= 3
il

il
= 2
il
Setting the last two indices equal and summing provides a check on our normalization,

ijk

ijk
= 2
ii
= 6
This is correct, since there are only six nonzero components and we are summing their squares.
2
Collecting these results,

ijk

lmn
=
il

jm

kn
+
im

jn

kl
+
in

jl

km

il

jn

km

in

jm

kl

im

jl

kn

ijk

lmk
=
il

jm

im

jl

ijk

ljk
= 2
il

ijk

ijk
= 6
Now we use these properties to prove some vector identities. First, consider the triple product,
u (v w) = u
i
[v w]
i
= u
i

ijk
v
j
w
k
=
ijk
u
i
v
j
w
k
Because
ijk
=
kij
=
jki
, we may write this in two other ways,
u (v w) =
ijk
u
i
v
j
w
k
=
kij
u
i
v
j
w
k
= w
k

kij
u
i
v
j
= w
i
[u v]
i
= w (u v)
and
u (v w) =
ijk
u
i
v
j
w
k
=
jki
u
i
v
j
w
k
= v
j
[wu]
j
= v (wu)
so that we have established
u (v w) = w (u v) = v (wu)
and we get the negative permutations by interchanging the order of the vectors in the cross products.
Next, consider a double cross product:
[u (v w)]
i
=
ijk
u
j
[v w]
k
=
ijk
u
j

klm
v
l
w
m
=
ijk

klm
u
j
v
l
w
m
=
ijk

lmk
u
j
v
l
w
m
= (
il

jm

im

jl
) u
j
v
l
w
m
=
il

jm
u
j
v
l
w
m

im

jl
u
j
v
l
w
m
= (
il
v
l
) (
jm
u
j
w
m
) (
jl
u
j
v
l
) (
im
w
m
)
= v
i
(u
m
w
m
) (u
j
v
j
) w
i
Returning to vector notation, this is the BAC CAB rule,
u (v w) = (u w) v (u v) w
Finally, look at the curl of a cross product,
[(v w)]
i
=
ijk

j
[v w]
k
3
=
ijk

j
(
klm
v
l
w
m
)
=
ijk

klm
((
j
v
l
) w
m
+ v
l

j
w
m
)
= (
il

jm

im

jl
) ((
j
v
l
) w
m
+ v
l

j
w
m
)
=
il

jm
((
j
v
l
) w
m
+ v
l

j
w
m
)
im

jl
((
j
v
l
) w
m
+ v
l

j
w
m
)
= (
m
v
i
) w
m
+ v
i

m
w
m
(
j
v
j
) w
i
v
j

j
w
i
Restoring the vector notation, we have
(v w) = (w ) v + ( w) v ( v) w(v ) w
If you doubt the advantages here, try to prove these identities by explicitly writing out all of the components!
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