I am following lecture notes on SR. The author writes that the following is equivalent:
\Lambda^T\eta\Lambda = \eta \iff \eta_{\mu \nu} {\Lambda^\mu}_\rho{\Lambda^\nu}_\sigma = \eta_{\rho \sigma}. \tag{1} This surprises me, because
{(\Lambda^T)^\mu}_\nu = {\Lambda_\nu}^\mu.\tag{2}
And so I expected it to be \Lambda^T\eta\Lambda = \eta \iff \eta_{\mu \nu} {\Lambda_\rho}^\mu{\Lambda^\nu}_\sigma = \eta_{\rho \sigma}.\tag{3} Why is this wrong?
Answer
OP's three equations should read \Lambda^T\eta\Lambda ~=~ \eta \quad\iff\quad (\Lambda^T)_{\rho}{}^{\mu}~\eta_{\mu \nu}~ \Lambda^{\nu}{}_{\sigma} ~=~ \eta_{\rho \sigma} ,\tag{1'} (\Lambda^T)_{\nu}{}^{\mu} ~:=~\Lambda^{\mu}{}_{\nu} ,\tag{2'} \Lambda^T\eta\Lambda ~=~ \eta \quad\iff\quad \Lambda^{\mu}{}_{\rho}~\eta_{\mu \nu}~ \Lambda^{\nu}{}_{\sigma} ~=~ \eta_{\rho \sigma} .\tag{3'}
In more detail: Let V be n-dimensional \mathbb{R}-vector space with a basis (e_{\mu})_{\mu=1, \ldots, n}. Let V^{\ast} be the dual vector space with the dual basis (e^{\ast \nu})_{\nu=1, \ldots, n}. Let \Lambda~=~e_{\mu}~ \Lambda^{\mu}{}_{\nu}\otimes e^{\ast \nu}~ \in~V\otimes V^{\ast}~\cong~{\cal L}(V;V) be a linear map from V to V. Let us call the positions of the indices on \Lambda^{\mu}{}_{\nu} for the NW-SE convention, cf. a compass rose. Let \Lambda^T~=~e^{\ast \nu}~ (\Lambda^T)_{\nu}{}^{\mu}\otimes e_{\mu}~\in~V^{\ast}\otimes V~\cong~{\cal L}(V^{\ast};V^{\ast}) be the transposed linear map from V^{\ast} to V^{\ast}. Note that (\Lambda^T)_{\nu}{}^{\mu} is written in the SW-NE convention. Let \eta~=~e^{\ast \mu}~\eta_{\mu\nu}\odot e^{\ast \nu}~\in~{\rm Sym}^2V^{\ast}~=~V^{\ast}\odot V^{\ast} be an (indefinite) metric, i.e. an invertible element in the symmetrized tensor product. A (pseudo)orthogonal map \Lambda satisfies by definition \Lambda^T\eta\Lambda~=~\eta. See also this related Phys.SE post.
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