Friday, 22 July 2016

covariance - How to check if a tensor transform a tensor?


Suppose Aμ1μnνn+1νm is a tensor. That means it transforms a tensor. How do I show that it transforms as a tensor? How do I see that cos(Aμ1μnνn+1νm) or some other non-tensor does not transform like a tensor?



Answer



A tensor (or more appropriately tensor field) Ti1imj1jn of rank (m,n) transforms as,


Ti1imj1jm=(˜xi1xi1˜ximxim)(xj1˜xj1xjm˜xjm)Ti1imj1jn


under a coordinate transformation x˜x. Now, if we have some multi-dimensional array, we need to know specifically what it is to be able to check if it is a tensor. Without further details, the best we can say is it transforms as a tensor if it satisfies the above definition.




As an example, consider the Christoffel symbols,


Γikl=12gim(lgmk+kgmlmgkl).


We know that the metric g is a tensor and thus we know exactly how it transforms under a coordinate transformation. Thus, to figure out if the Christoffel symbols are tensors, we need only plug this in and compute. But we find that,



Γkij=xpxixqxjΓrpqxkxr+xkxm2xmxixj


and thus clearly does not transform in the manner defined for a tensor, which is why we call them the Christoffel symbols. As you can see, we need to know what the quantity in question is to be able to check if it transforms the right way.


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