Levi-Civita symbol: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>John R. Brews
(with three indices)
imported>John R. Brews
m (spelling)
Line 14: Line 14:
{{cite book |title=Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers |author=T. Padmanabhan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=BSfe2MjbQ3gC&pg=PA22 |pages=p. 22 |isbn=0521882230 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010}}
{{cite book |title=Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers |author=T. Padmanabhan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=BSfe2MjbQ3gC&pg=PA22 |pages=p. 22 |isbn=0521882230 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010}}


</ref> Consequently, in three dimensions the completely antisymmetric tensor with three idices is entirely specified by stating &epsilon;<sub>123</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;&epsilon;<sub>xyz</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;1 in [[Cartesian coordinates]].
</ref> Consequently, in three dimensions the completely antisymmetric tensor with three indices is entirely specified by stating &epsilon;<sub>123</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;&epsilon;<sub>xyz</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;1 in [[Cartesian coordinates]].


==Notes==
==Notes==
<references/>
<references/>

Revision as of 13:32, 1 January 2011

The Levi-Civita symbol, usually denoted as εijk equals one if i,j,k = 1,2,3 or any permutation that keeps the same cyclic order,[1] or minus one if the order is different, or zero if any two of the indices are the same. The Levi-Civita symbol also is known as the alternating tensor[2] or the completely antisymmetric tensor with three indices in three dimensions.

The completely antisymmetric tensor with N indices in N-dimensions has only one independent component, and is denoted in two, three and four dimensions as εij, εijk, εijkl.[3] Consequently, in three dimensions the completely antisymmetric tensor with three indices is entirely specified by stating ε123 = εxyz = 1 in Cartesian coordinates.

Notes

  1. The term "cyclic order" imagines the items in a list, say a, b, c, ... arranged in a circle. Then all sequences that could be encountered by going once around the circle in the direction of the sequence a, b, c, ... are in cyclic order, regardless of the starting point. See Scoby McCurdy (1894). “Cyclic order”, An exercise book in algebra. D. C. Heath & Co., p. 59. 
  2. Vinod K. Sharma (2009). “§9.2 Alternating tensor (or Levi-Civita symbol)”, Matrix Methods and Vector Spaces in Physics. Prentice-Hall of India Pvt.Ltd, p. 370. ISBN 8120338669. 
  3. T. Padmanabhan (2010). Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers. Cambridge University Press, p. 22. ISBN 0521882230.