Gradient

Main article: Gradient

Gradient of a tensor field, , of order n, is generally written as

and is a tensor field of order n + 1. In particular, if the tensor field has order 0 (i.e. a scalar), ,
the resulting gradient,

is a vector field.

Divergence

Main article: Divergence

The divergence of a tensor field, , of non-zero order n, is generally written as

and is a contraction to a tensor field of order n 1. Specifically, the divergence of a vector is a

scalar. The divergence of a higher order tensor field may be found by decomposing the tensor
field into a sum of outer products, thereby allowing the use of the identity,

where is the directional derivative in the direction of multiplied by its magnitude.

Specifically, for the outer product of two vectors,

Curl

Main article: Curl (mathematics)

For a 3-dimensional vector field , curl is generally written as:

and is also a 3-dimensional vector field.

Laplacian

Main article: Laplace operator

For a tensor field, , the laplacian is generally written as:

and is a tensor field of the same order.

Special notations

In Feynman subscript notation,

where the notation B means the subscripted gradient operates on only the factor B.[1][2]

A less general but similar idea is used in geometric algebra where the so-called Hestenes overdot
notation is employed.[3] The above identity is then expressed as:

where overdots define the scope of the vector derivative. The dotted vector, in this case B, is
differentiated, while the (undotted) A is held constant.

For the remainder of this article, Feynman subscript notation will be used where appropriate.

Properties
Distributive properties

Product rule for the gradient

The gradient of the product of two scalar fields and follows the same form as the product
rule in single variable calculus.

Product of a scalar and a vector

Vector dot product

Alternatively, using Feynman subscript notation,

As a special case, when A = B,

Vector cross product

Second derivatives
Curl of the gradient

The curl of the gradient of any scalar field is always the zero vector:

Divergence of the curl

The divergence of the curl of any vector field A is always zero:

Divergence of the gradient

The Laplacian of a scalar field is defined as the divergence of the gradient:

Note that the result is a scalar quantity.

Curl of the curl

Here,2 is the vector Laplacian operating on the vector field A.