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1.VectorProducts

Thedotandcrossproductsareoftenintroducedviatrigonometricfunctionsand/ormatrix
operations,buttheyalsoarisequitenaturallyfromsimpleconsiderationsofPythagoras'
theorem.GiventwopointsaandbinthethreedimensionalvectorspacewithCartesian
coordinates(ax,ay,az)and(bx,by,bz)respectively,thesquareddistancebetweenthesetwo
pointsis

If(andonlyif)thesetwovectorsareperpendicular,thedistancebetweenthemisthe
hypotenuseofarighttrianglewithedgelengthsequaltothelengthsofthetwovectors,so
wehave

ifandonlyifaandbareperpendicular.Equatingthesetwoexpressionsandcanceling
terms,wearriveatthenecessaryandsufficientconditionforaandbtobeperpendicular

Thismotivatesthedefinitionofthelefthandquantityasthe"dotproduct"(alsocalledthe
scalarproduct)ofthearbitraryvectorsa=(ax,ay,az)andb=(bx,by,bz)asthescalar
quantity

Attheotherextreme,supposeweseekanindicatorofwhetherornotthevectorsaandbare
parallel.Inanycaseweknowthesquaredlengthofthevectorsumofthesetwovectorsis

WealsoknowthatS=|a|+|b|ifandonlyifaandbareparallel,inwhichcasewehave

EquatingthesetwoexpressionsforS2,cancelingterms,andsquaringbothsidesgivesthe
necessaryandsufficientconditionforaandbtobeparallel

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Expandingtheseexpressionsandcancelingterms,thisbecomes

Noticethatwecangathertermsandrewritethisequalityas

Obviouslyasumofsquarescanequalzeroonlyifeachtermisindividuallyzero,whichof
coursewastobeexpected,becausetwovectorsareparallelifandonlyiftheircomponents
areinthesameproportionstoeachother,i.e.,

whichrepresentsthevanishingofthethreetermsinthepreviousexpression.This
motivatesthedefinitionofthecrossproduct(alsoknownasthevectorproduct)oftwo
vectorsa=(ax,ay,az)andb=(bx,by,bz)asconsistingofthosethreecomponents,ordered
symmetrically,sothateachcomponentisdefinedintermsoftheothertwocomponentsof
thearguments,asfollows

Byconstruction,thisvectorisnullifandonlyifaandbareparallel.Furthermore,notice
thatthedotproductsofthiscrossproductandeachofthevectorsaandbareidentically
zero,i.e.,

Aswesawpreviously,thedotproductoftwovectorsis0ifandonlyifthevectorsare
perpendicular,sothisshowsthatabisperpendiculartobothaandb.Thereis,however,
anarbitrarychoiceofsign,whichisconventionallyresolvedbythe"righthandrule".It
canbeshownthatifistheanglebetweenaandb,thenabisavectorwithmagnitude
|a||b|sin()anddirectionperpendiculartobothaandb,accordingtotherighthandrule.
Similarlythescalarabequals|a||b|cos().

2.Differentials

InChapter5.2wegaveanintuitivedescriptionofdifferentialssuchasdxanddyas
incrementalquantities,butstrictlyspeakingtheactualvaluesofdifferentialsarearbitrary,
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becauseonlytheratiosbetweenthemaresignificant.Differentialsforfunctionsofmultiple
variablesarejustageneralizationoftheusualdefinitionsforfunctionsofasinglevariable.
Forexample,ifwehavez=f(x)thenthedifferentialsdzanddxaredefinedasarbitrary
quantitieswhoseratioequalsthederivativeoff(x)withrespecttox.Consequentlywehave
dz/dx=f'(x)wheref'(x)signifiesthepartialderivativez/x,sowecanexpressthisinthe
form

Inthiscasethepartialderivativeisidenticaltothetotalderivative,becausethisfis
entirelyafunctionofthesinglevariablex.

If,now,weconsideradifferentiablefunctionz=f(x,y)withtwoindependentvariables,we
canexpandthisintoapowerseriesconsistingofasumof(perhapsinfinitelymany)terms
oftheformAxmyn.Sincexandyareindependentvariableswecansupposetheyareeach
functionsofaparametert,sowecandifferentiatethepowerseriestermbyterm,with
respecttot,andeachtermwillcontributeaquantityoftheform

where,again,thedifferentialsdx,dy,dz,dtarearbitraryvariableswhoseratiosonlyare
constrainedbythisrelation.Thecoefficientofdy/dtisthepartialderivativeofAxmyn,with
respecttoy,andthecoefficientofdx/dtisthepartialwithrespecttox,andthiswillapply
toeverytermoftheseries.Sowecanmultiplythroughbydttoarriveattheresult

Thesameapproachcanbeappliedtofunctionsofarbitrarilymanyindependentvariables.

3.DifferentialOperators

Thestandarddifferentialoperatorsarecommonlyexpressedasformal"vectorproducts"
involvingthe("del")symbol,whichisdefinedas

whereux,uy,uzareagainunitvectorsinthex,y,zdirections.Thescalarproductofwith
anarbitraryvectorfieldViscalledthedivergenceofV,andiswrittenexplicitlyas

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ThevectorproductofwithanarbitraryvectorfieldViscalledthecurl,givenexplicitly
by

Notethatthecurlisappliedtoavectorfieldandreturnsavector,whereasthedivergenceis
appliedtoavectorfieldbutreturnsascalar.Forcompleteness,wenotethatascalarfield
Q(x,y,z)canbesimplymultipliedbytheoperatortogiveavector,calledthegradient,as
follows

Anothercommonexpressionisthesumofthesecondderivativesofascalarfieldwith
respecttothethreedirections,sincethissumappearsintheLaplaceandPoissonequations.
Usingthe"del"operatorthiscanbeexpressedasthedivergenceofthegradient(orthe"div
grad")ofthescalarfield,asshownbelow.

Forconvenience,thisoperationisoftenwrittenas2,andiscalledtheLaplacianoperator.
Alltheaboveoperatorsapplyto3vectors,butwhendealingwith4vectorsinMinkowski
spacetimetheanalogoftheLaplacianoperatoristhed'Alembertianoperator

4.DifferentiationofVectorsandTensors

Theeasiestwaytounderstandthemotivationforthedefinitionsofabsoluteandcovariant
differentiationistobeginbyconsideringthederivativeofavectorfieldinthree
dimensionalEuclideanspace.Suchavectorcanbeexpressedineithercontravariantor
covariantformasalinearcombinationof,respectively,thebasisvectorsu1,u2,u3orthe
dualbasisvectorsu1,u2,u3,asfollows

whereAiarethecontravariantcomponentsandAiarethecovariantcomponentsofA,and
thetwosetsofbasisvectorssatisfytherelations

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wheregijandgijarethecovariantandcontravariantmetrictensors.ThedifferentialofA
canbefoundbyapplyingthechainruletoeitherofthetwoforms,asfollows

IfthebasisvectorsuianduihaveaconstantdirectionrelativetoafixedCartesianframe,
thendui=dui=0,sothesecondtermontherightvanishes,andweareleftwiththe
familiardifferentialofavectorasthedifferentialofitscomponents.However,ifthebasis
vectorsvaryfromplacetoplace,thesecondtermontherightisnonzero,sowemustnot
neglectthistermifwearetoallowcurvilinearcoordinates.

AswesawinPart2ofthisAppendix,foranyquantityQ=f(x)andcoordinatexiwehave

sowecansubstituteforthethreedifferentialsin(1)andrearrangetermstowritethe
resultingexpressionsas

Sincetheserelationsmustholdforallpossiblecombinationsofdxi,thequantitiesinside
parenthesesmustvanish,sowehavethefollowingrelationsbetweenpartialderivatives

IfwenowletAijandAijdenotetheprojectionsoftheithcomponentsof(2a)and(2b)
respectivelyontothejthbasisvector,wehave

anditcanbeverifiedthatthesearethecomponentsofsecondordertensorsofthetypes
indicatedbytheirindices(superscriptsbeingcontravariantindicesandsubscriptsbeing
covariantindices).Ifwemultiplythrough(usingthedotproduct)eachtermof(2a)byui,
andeachtermof(2b)byui,andrecallthatuiuj=ij,wehave
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Forconveniencewenowdefinethethreeindexsymbol

whichiscalledtheChristoffelsymbolofthesecondkind.AlthoughtheChristoffelsymbol
isnotatensor,itisveryusefulforexpressingresultsonametricalmanifoldwithagiven
systemofcoordinates.Wealsonotethatsincethecomponentsofuiujareconstants(either
0or1),itfollowsthat(u uj)/xk=0,andexpandingthispartialderivativebythechain
i

rulewefindthat

Therefore,equations(3)canbewrittenintermsoftheChristoffelsymbolas

Thesearethecovariantderivativesof,respectively,thecontravariantandcovariantformsof
thevectorA.Obviouslyifthebasisvectorsareconstant(asinCartesianoroblique
coordinatesystems)theChristoffelsymbolsvanish,andweareleftwithjustthefirstterms
ontherightsidesoftheseequations.Thesecondtermsareneededonlytoaccountforthe
changeinbasiswithpositionofgeneralcurvilinearcoordinates.

Itmightseemthatthesedefinitionsofcovariantdifferentiationdependonthefactthatwe
workedinafixedEuclideanspace,whichenabledustoassignabsolutemeaningtothe
componentsofthebasisvectorsintermsofanunderlyingCartesiancoordinatesystem.
However,itcanbeshownthattheChristoffelsymbolswe'veusedherearethesameasthe
onesdefinedinSection5.4inthederivationoftheextremal(geodesic)pathsonacurved
manifold,whollyintermsoftheintrinsicmetriccoefficientsgijandtheirpartialderivatives
withrespecttothegeneralcoordinatesonthemanifold.Thisshouldnotbesurprising,
consideringthatthedefinitionoftheChristoffelsymbolsgivenabovewasintermsofthe
basisvectorsujandtheirderivativeswithrespecttothegeneralcoordinates,andnotingthat
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themetrictensorisjustgij=uiuj.Thus,withabitofalgebrawecanshowthat

inagreementwithSection5.4.Weregardequations(4)astheappropriategeneralizationof
differentiationonanarbitraryRiemannianmanifoldessentiallybyformalanalogywiththe
flatmanifoldcase,bythefactthatapplyingthisoperationtoatensoryieldsanothertensor,
andperhapsmostimportantlybythefactthatinconjunctionwiththedevelopmentsof
Section5.4wefindthattheextremalmetricalpath(i.e.,thegeodesicpath)betweentwo
pointsisgivenbyusingthisdefinitionof"paralleltransport"ofavectorpointedinthe
directionofthepath,sothegeodesicpathsarelocally"straight".

Ofcourse,whenweallowcurvedmanifolds,somenewphenomenaarise.Onaflat
manifoldthemetriccomponentsmayvaryfromplacetoplace,butwecanstilldetermine
thatthemanifoldisflat,bymeansoftheRiemanncurvaturetensordescribedinSection
5.7.Oneconsequenceofflatness,obviousfromtheabovederivation,isthatifavectoris
transportedparalleltoitselfaroundaclosedpath,itassumesitsoriginalorientationwhenit
returnstoitsoriginallocation.However,ifthemetriccoefficientsvaryinsuchawaythat
theRiemanncurvaturetensorisnonzero,theningeneralavectorthathasbeentransported
paralleltoitselfaroundaclosedloopwillundergoachangeinorientation.Indeed,Gauss
showedthattheamountofdeflectionexperiencedbyavectorasaresultofbeingparallel
transportedaroundaclosedloopina2dimensionalmanifoldisexactlyproportionaltothe
integralofthecurvatureovertheenclosedregion.

Theabovedefinitionofcovariantdifferentiationimmediatelygeneralizestotensorsofany
order.Ingeneral,thecovariantderivativeofamixedtensorTconsistsoftheordinary
partialderivativeofthetensoritselfwithrespecttothecoordinatesxk,plusaterm
involvingaChristoffelsymbolforeachcontravariantindexofT,minusaterminvolvinga
ChristoffelsymbolforeachcovariantindexofT.Forexample,ifrisacontravariantindex
andsisacovariantindex,wehave

It'sconvenienttorememberthateachChristoffelsymbolinthisexpressionhastheindexof
xkinoneofitslowerpositions,andalsothattherelevantindexfromTiscarriedbythe
correspondingChristoffelsymbolatthesamelevel(upperorlower),andtheremaining
indexoftheChristoffelsymbolisadummythatmatcheswiththerelevantindexpositionin
T.

OneveryimportantresultinvolvingthecovariantderivativeisknownasRicci'sTheorem.
Thecovariantderivativeofthemetrictensorisgijis

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IfwesubstitutefortheChristoffelsymbolsfromequation(5),andrecallthat

wefindthatallthetermscanceloutandwe'releftwithgij,k=0.Thusthecovariant
derivativeofthemetrictensorisidenticallyzero,whichiswhatpromptedEinsteinto
identifyitwiththegravitationalpotential,whosedivergencevanishes,asdiscussedin
Section5.8.

5.NotesonCurvatureDerivations

DirectsubstitutionoftheprincipalqvaluesintothecurvatureformulaofSection5.3givesa
somewhatcomplicatedexpression,anditmaynotbeobviousthatitreducestothe
expressiongiveninthetext.Evensomesymbolicprocessorsseemtobeunableto
accomplishthereduction.So,toverifytheresult,recallthatwehave

wherem=(ca)/b.Therootsofthequadraticinqare

andofcourseqq'=1.Fromthe2ndequationwehaveq2=1+2mq,sowecansubstitute
thisintothecurvatureequationtogive

Addingandsubtractingcinthenumerator,thiscanbewrittenas

Now,ourassertioninthetextisthatthisquantityequals(a+c)+b
.Ifwesubtract
2cfrombothofthesequantitiesandmultuplythroughby1+mq,ourassertionis

Sinceq=m+
therighthandterminthesquarebracketscanbewrittenas
bqbm,soweclaimthat

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Expandingtherighthandsideandcancellingtermsanddividingbymgives

Nowwemultiplybytheconjugatequantityq'togive

Thequantitiesbq'cancel,andweareleftwithm=(ca)/b,whichisthedefinitionofm.
Ofcoursethesamederivationappliestotheotherprinciplecurvatureifweswapqandq'.

Section5.3alsostatesthattheGaussiancurvatureofthesurfaceofasphereofradiusRis
1/R2.Toverifythis,notethatthesurfaceofasphereofradiusRisdescribedbyx2+y2+
z2=R2,andwecanconsiderapointattheSouthpole,tangenttoaplaneofconstantz.
Thenwehave

Takingthenegativeroot(fortheSouthPole),factoringoutR,andexpandingtheradical
intoapowerseriesinthequantity(x2+y2)/R2gives

Withoutchangingtheshapeofthesurface,wecanelevatethespheresotheSouthpoleis
justtangenttothexyplaneattheoriginbyaddingRtoallthezvalues.Omittingall
powersofxandyabovethe2nd,thisgivesthequadraticequationofthesurfaceatthis
point

Thuswehavez=ax2+bxy+cx2where

fromwhichwecomputethecurvatureofthesurface

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asexpected.

6.OddCompositions

It'sinterestingtoreviewthepurelyformalconstraintsonavelocitycompositionlaw(such
asdiscussedinSection1.8)toclarifywhatdistinguishestheformulaethatworkfromthose
thatdon't.Lettingv12,v23,andv13denotethepairwisevelocities(ingeometricunits)
betweenthreecolinearparticlesP1,P2,P3,acompositionformularelatingthesespeeds
cangenerallybeexpressedintheform

wherefissomefunctionthattransformsspeedsintoadomainwheretheyaresimply
additive.It'sclearthatfmustbean"odd"function,i.e.,f(x)=f(x),toensurethatthe
samecompositionformulaworksforbothpositiveandnegativespeeds.Thisrulesout
transformssuchasf(x)=x2,f(x)=cos(x),andallother"even"functions.

Thegeneral"odd"functionexpressedasapowerseriesisalinearcombinationofodd
powers,i.e.,

sowecanexpressanysuchfunctionintermsofthecoefficients[c1,c3,...].Forexample,if
wetakethecoefficients[1,0,0,...]wehavethesimpletransformf(x)=x,whichgivesthe
Galileancompositionformulav13=v12+v23.Foranotherexample,supposewe
"weight"eachtermininverseproportiontotheexponentbyusingthecoefficients[1,1/3,
1/5,1/7,...].Thisgivesthetransform

leadingtoEinstein'srelativisticcompositionformula

Fromtheidentityatanh(x)=ln[(1+x)/(1x)]/2wealsohavetheequivalentmultiplicative
form

whichisarguablythemostnaturalformoftherelativisticspeedcompositionlaw.The
velocityparameterp=(1+v)/(1v)alsogivesverynaturalexpressionsforotherobservables
aswell,includingtherelativisticDopplershift,whichequals
,andthespacetime
intervalbetweentwoinertialparticleseachoneunitofpropertimepasttheirpointof
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intersection,whichequalsp1/4p1/4.Incidentally,togiveanequilateraltrianglein
spacetime,thislastequationshowsthattwoparticlesmusthaveamutualspeedof
0.745...

7.RelativisticFormofKeplersThirdLaw

Onemightwonderwhy,inthederivationoftheequationforplanetaryorbitspresentedin
Section6.2,weapparentlymadeuseofonlytwoofthethreegeodesicequations,excluding
equation(8).Recallthatweintegratedequations(7)and(9),andthensubstitutedtheresults
intothelineelement,whichthengavetheequationofmotionrepresentedby(10).
However,givenallbutoneofthegeodesicequationsalongwiththelineelement,the
remaininggeodesicequationisredundant.Toseethis,wecandifferentiateequation(10)
withrespecttoanddividethroughby2(dr/d)togive

Wewouldarriveatthissameequationifweinsertedthesquaredderivativesofthe
coordinatesintoequation(8),sowehaveconsistencywithallofthegeodesicequations.
AnotherpointtobeclarifiediswhethertheanalogofKeplersthirdlawimplicitinthis
equationisconsistentwiththeclaiminSection5.5thatKeplersthirdlawisformallyvalid
inSchwarzschildspacetime.Letting=d/ddenotetheproperangularspeed,wehaveh
=r2,andtheaboveequationcanbewrittenas

Obviouslyif=0thisgivesthe"proper"analogofNewton'sinversesquarelawequating
radialgravitationalaccelerationtom/r2.Withnonzerovalueoftheterm2r
correspondstotheNewtoniancentripetalaccelerationwhich,ifwedefinedthetangential
velocityv=r,wouldequaltheclassicalv2/r.Thistermservestooffsettheinwardpullof
gravity,butintherelativisticversionwefindnot2rbut2r(13m/r).Foracircularorbit
wewouldhaved2r/dt2=0andhence

ThismayseeminconsistentwiththeclaiminSection5.5thattheKeplerianrelationm=
2r3isexactlyvalidforcircularorbitsinSchwarzschildspacetime.However,inthat
sectionwedefinedasthederivativeofwithrespecttocoordinatetime,whereasherewe
havetakentobethederivativeofwithrespecttopropertime.Toseethatthisis
consistent,dividethroughthelineelementby(dt)2andnotethatdr/d=0foracircular
orbit,sowehave

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8.IndependentComponentsoftheCurvatureTensor

AsshowninSection5.7,thefullycovariantRiemanncurvaturetensorattheoriginof
Riemannnormalcoordinates,ormoregenerallyintermsofanytangentcoordinate
systemwithrespecttowhichthefirstderivativesofthemetriccoefficientsarezero,hasthe
symmetries

Thesesymmetriesimplythatalthoughthecurvaturetensorinfourdimensionshas256
components,thereareonly20algebraicdegreesoffreedom.Toprovethis,wefirstnote
thattheantisymmetryinthefirsttwoindicesandinthelasttwoindicesimpliesthatallthe
componentsoftheformRaaaa,Raabb,Raabc,Rabcc,andallpermutationsofRaaabarezero,
becausetheyequalthenegationofthemselveswhenwetransposeeitherthefirsttwoorthe
lasttwoindices.Theonlyremainingcomponentswithfewerthanthreedistinctindicesare
oftheformRababandRabba,butthesearethenegativesofeachotherbytranspositionof
thelasttwoincides,sowehaveonlysixindependentcomponentsofthisform(whichisthe
numberofwaysofchoosingtwooffourindices).Theonlynonzerocomponentswith
exactlythreedistinctindicesareoftheformsRabac=Rbaac=Rabca=Rbaca,sowehave
twelveindependentcomponentsofthisform(becausetherearefourchoicesforthe
excludedindex,andthenthreechoicesfortherepeatedindex).Theremainingcomponents
havefourdistinctindices,buteachcomponentwithagivenpermutationofindicesactually
determinesthevaluesofeightcomponentsbecauseofthethreesymmetriesandanti
symmetriesofordertwo.Thus,onthebasisofthesethreesymmetriesthereareonly24/8=
3independentcomponentsofthisform,whichmayberepresentedbythethreecomponents
R1234,R1342,andR1432.However,theskewsymmetryimpliesthatthesethree
componentssumtozero,sotheyrepresentonlytwodegreesoffreedom.Hencewecan
fullyspecifytheRiemanncurvaturetensor(withrespecttotangentcoordinates)bygiving
thevaluesofthesixcomponentsoftheformRabab,thetwelvecomponentsoftheform
Rabac,andthevaluesofR1234andR1342,whichimpliesthatthecurvaturetensor(with
respecttoanycoordinatesytem)has6+12+2=20algebraicdegreesoffreedom.

Thesamereasoningcanbeappliedinanynumberofdimensions.ForamanifoldofN
dimensions,thenumberofindependentnonzerocurvaturecomponentswithjusttwo
distinctindicesisequaltothenumberofwaysofchoosing2outofNindices.Also,the
numberofindependentnonzerocurvaturecomponentswith3distinctindicesisequalto
thenumberofwaysofchoosingtheN3excludedindicesoutofNindices,multipliedby3
forthenumberofchoicesoftherepeatedindex.Thisleavesthecomponentswith4distinct
indices,ofwhichthereare4!timesthenumberofwaysofchoosing4ofNindices,but
againeachoftheserepresents8componentsbecauseofthesymmetriesandanti
symmetries.Also,thesecomponentscanbearrangedinsetsofthreethatsatisfythethree
wayskewsymmetry,sothenumberofindependentcomponentsofthisformisreducedbya
factorof2/3.Therefore,thetotalnumberofalgebraicallyindependentcomponentsofthe
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curvaturetensorinNdimensionsis

ReturntoTableofContents

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