IntroductiontoTensors 1

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
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ForrotationsinEuclideannspace:

where=anglebtwn and axes

Itisnotthecaseforallspacesandtransformationsthat

sowedefineanewtypeofvectorthattransformslikethegradient:

Covariantvectors:
ExplicitdemonstrationforrotationsinEuclidean2space: 4
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WhataboutvectorsinMinkowskispace?

but =>contravariantandcovariant
vectorsaredifferent!
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Recap(forarbitraryspaceandtransformation)

Contravariantvector:

Covariantvector:

Forfutureconvenience,definenewnotationforpartialderivatives:

Note:

=Kroneckerdelta=1ifi=j,0ifij
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Tensors

ConsideranNdimensionalspace(witharbitrarygeometry)and
anobjectwithcomponents inthe coordsystemand
inthe coordsystem.

Thisobjectisamixedtensor,contravariantini...kandcovariantin
l...n,underthecoordtransformation if

Rankoftensor,M=numberofindices
Totalnumberofcomponents=NM
Vectorsarefirstranktensorsandscalarsarezeroranktensors.
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IfspaceisEuclideanNspaceandtransformationisrotationof
Cartesiancoords,thentensoriscalledaCartesiantensor.

InMinkowskispaceandunderPoincartransformations,tensorsare
Lorentztensors,or,4tensors.

Zerotensor0hasallitscomponentszeroinallcoordsystems.

Maintheoremoftensoranalysis:
Iftwotensorsofthesametypehavealltheircomponentsequalin
onecoordsystem,thentheircomponentsareequalinallcoordsystems.

Einstein'ssummationconvention:repeatedupperandlower
indices=>summation

e.g.:
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AiBicouldalsobewrittenAjBj;indexisadummyindex

Anotherexample:

jandkaredummyindices;iisafreeindex

Summationconventionalsoemployedwith ,etc.

Exampleofasecondranktensor:Kroneckerdelta

SP5.12
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TensorAlgebra(operationsformakingnewtensorsfromoldtensors)

1.Sumoftwotensors:addcomponents:
Proofthatsum
isatensor:
(foronecase)

2.Outerproduct:multiplycomponents:e.g.,

3.Contraction:replaceonesuperscriptandonesubscriptbya
dummyindexpair
e.g.,

Resultisascalarifnofreeindicesremain.
e.g,
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4.Innerproduct:contractioninconjunctionwithouterproduct

e.g.:

Again,resultisascalarifnofreeindicesremain,e.g,

5.Indexpermutation:e.g.,

DifferentiationofTensors

Notation: ; ,etc.
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IFtransformationislinear
(sothatp'sareallconstant)

=>derivativeofatensorwrtacoordinateisatensoronlyfor
lineartransformations(likerotationsandLTs)

Similarly,differentiationwrtascalar(e.g.,)yieldsatensorfor
lineartransformations.
NowspecializetoRiemannianspaces 13

characterizedbyametric with

Assume issymmetric: (nolossofgenerality,since

theyonlyappearinpairs)

If ,thenspaceisstrictlyRiemannian
(e.g.,EuclideanNspace)

Otherwise,spaceispseudoRiemannian(e.g.,Minkowskispace)

iscalledthemetrictensor.

Notethatthemetrictensormaybeafunctionofpositioninthespace.
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Proofthat 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 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 17

InallcoordsystemsinMinkowskispace:

=>

e.g:
UnderstandardLorentztransformations: 18

Alltheotherp'sarezero.

e.g.:

SP5.37