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.

2
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)
1.Sumoftwotensors:addcomponents:
Proofthatsum
isatensor:
(foronecase)

2.Outerproduct:multiplycomponents:e.g.,
3.Contraction:replaceonesuperscriptandonesubscriptbya
dummyindexpair
e.g.,
Resultisascalarifnofreeindicesremain.
e.g,

10

11

4.Innerproduct:contractioninconjunctionwithouterproduct
e.g.:
Again,resultisascalarifnofreeindicesremain,e.g,
5.Indexpermutation:e.g.,
SP5.35
DifferentiationofTensors
Notation:

,etc.

12

IFtransformationislinear
(sothatp'sareallconstant)
=>derivativeofatensorwrtacoordinateisatensoronlyfor
lineartransformations(likerotationsandLTs)
Similarly,differentiationwrtascalar(e.g.,)yieldsatensorfor
lineartransformations.

13

NowspecializetoRiemannianspaces
characterizedbyametric
Assume

If

with

issymmetric:

(nolossofgenerality,since
theyonlyappearinpairs)
,thenspaceisstrictlyRiemannian
(e.g.,EuclideanNspace)

Otherwise,spaceispseudoRiemannian(e.g.,Minkowskispace)
iscalledthemetrictensor.
Notethatthemetrictensormaybeafunctionofpositioninthespace.

Proofthat

14

isatensor:
(sincedxiisavector)
(2setsofdummyindices)

=>

It'stemptingtodivideby

andconclude

Butthere'sadoublesumoverk'andl',sothisisn'tpossible.
Instead,suppose
=>

=1ifi'=1
=0otherwise
Similarlyfor

,etc.

15
Nowsuppose

=1ifi'=1or2
=0otherwise

Onlycontributingtermsare:k'=1,l'=1k'=1,l'=2
k'=2,l'=1k'=2,l'=2
0

since

issymmetric.
sinceiandjaredummyindices.

=>

Similarlyforall

16

Generaldefinitionofthescalarproduct:
Define

astheinversematrixof

isalsoatensor,sinceapplyingtensortransformationyields
,whichdefines

astheinverseof

Raisingandloweringofindices:anothertensoralgebraicoperation,
definedforRiemannianspaces=innerproductofatensorwiththe
metrictensor
e.g.:

Note:covariantandcontravariantindicesmustbestaggeredwhen
raisingandloweringisanticipated.

4tensors
InallcoordsystemsinMinkowskispace:

=>
e.g:

17

18

UnderstandardLorentztransformations:

Alltheotherp'sarezero.

e.g.:

SP5.610