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Path: blob/main/13Manifold_TensorFields.ipynb
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13. Tensor fields
This notebook is part of the Introduction to manifolds in SageMath by Andrzej Chrzeszczyk (Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Poland).
Linear differential forms (1- forms, covector fields) on a manifold
Let be a smooth manifold. A linear differential form or 1-form or covector field on is a map that assigns to each an element (the space was defined in notebook 9) . The 1-form will also be denoted by , it is smooth (of class ) if for all the function defined byParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 67: …{for }\ p\in M \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.1} \e… is smooth (of class ).
The set of all smooth 1-forms on is denoted by . The set is a module over with the algebraic operations given by ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 95: …, \end{matrix} \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.2} \e… for and
Example 13.1
Let us define a 1-form on a 3-dimensional manifold.
Differential of scalar functions
If , the differential of denoted by is given by where is the differential at point defined in (9.1). The differential belongs to If then from (13.1),(11.1),(9.1) it follows that
for i.e., ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 30: …n} df(X)=X(f). \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.3} \e…
Example 13.2
Define a scalar function and its differential . The differential is an example of 1-form.
The differential of function is a derivation
The map , which sends into , satisfies ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 97: …, \end{matrix} \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.4} \e… for and
To check the first equality note, that for
The second one follows from
Differentials of coordinate functions form local bases for
If is a chart on , then as we have checked in notebook 9, the differentials of the coordinate functions computed at form the basis of .
The formula (9.1') implies that on we have
Since from (8.5) we have on : the covector field assigns to the vector field its -th component function in the frame .
If , using (9.2), we obtain for and
Thus
ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 77: …^i}\big) dx^i. \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.5} \e…If we denote by then in local coordinates every element of is of the form
Remark. Let us underscore that the last expressions holds only locally (in the domain of a local chart).
Coframe
Recall that in notebook 11 we defined frames.
If is an open subset of a manifold (for example a coordinate neighborhood) then the coframe on is the sequence of covector fields on such that for each is a basis of the cotangent space .
From (13.5) it follows that the covectors define a coframe on the coordinate neighborhood Let us recall that the linear independence of for every was checked in notebook 9 (cf. the argument before the formula (9.2)).
Using the local representation we can give concrete examples of 1-forms/covector fields.
Example 13.3
Define 1-form in SageMath.
Function arguments can be omitted:
Example 13.4
Now use the local coordinates to show the differential of a scalar function.
To explain the last formula let us note that by (13.5) but, by virtue of (13.3), so that ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 61: …tial x^i}dx^i. \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.6} \e…
Tensor fields
Tensor fields of type (covariant tensor fields)
A tensor field of type or a covariant tensor field of rank on a manifold is a map that associates with each point a tensor ( was defined in notebook 9).
If is a tensor field of type and are vector fields on , then is the real-valued function given by
We say that is smooth if is a smooth function for all .
One can prove that if are local coordinates on and , then is smooth iff for arbitrary there is a coordinate map around such that the real functions are smooth.
The operations of tensor addition, scalar multiplication and tensor product are defined pointwise:
for , -covariant tensor fields on and
Using these formulas and (9.5) we can check that arbitrary tensor field of type can be expressed in local coordinates as follows
If are vector fields on and , then from the multi-linearity of on for it follows that
for . We have checked that
for and
Similarly for we can check that for
Tensorial property
If is a map that to each set of vector fields on associates a function with the property that for functions and
then is a tensor field of type
Note that the last property means that covariant tensor fields of rank are just multilinear functions on the Cartesian product of copies of the module over the ring .
The module of covariant tensor fields of type on a manifold will be denoted by .
Warning. If is a module -not a manifold, in notebook 9a the same notations denote the space of covariant tensors of rank on the module .
Covariant tensor fields in components
Using this property we can give another proof of (13.7). If the vector fields are expressed in the form then
Example 13.5
Define a general (0,2)-type tensor field on a 2-dimensional manifold (4 scalar functions as components).
The components of the tensor field are scalar functions
Let us check that
Example 13.6
Let us define a more concrete example with variable components (upper indices and powers do not mix well).
Example 13.7
An example of a (0,4)-type tensor field (*
denotes the tensor product):
Example 13.8
Defining tensor fields with symbolic components we can use shorter and more general notation.
Let us define a tensor field of type (0,2) in a more compact way.
As we can see, the result is the same as previously.
The functions arguments can be omitted.
Remark. If we want to make purely algebraic operations on tensor fields, then we can use symbols, not functions as components (this will not work if we want to use derivatives!).
Example 13.9
Define (0,3) type tensor field on a two dimensional manifold.
We define a three-dimensional table of symbols
and all components define with one equality.
Remember that the components in this example do not depend on coordinates.
Example 13.10
If we need a proper tensor field, with components depending on coordinates, the previous example should be modified.
The first cell remains the same:
but to define components we need scalar fields:
The functions argument can be omitted:
Unfortunately, (in our system) latex encounters problems if the outputs are to long.
If the latex formatted output is not needed, the %display plain
method works properly.
Tensor fields of type (contravariant tensor fields of rank )
A tensor field of type (or a contravariant tensor field of rank ) on a manifold is a map that associates to each point a tensor ( was defined in notebook 9).
The tensor field is smooth if for arbitrary 1-forms , the function , defined by , is smooth.
The operations of tensor addition, scalar multiplication and tensor product are defined pointwise as in the case of covariant tensor fields.
Tensorial property
A map is a tensor field of type iff it associates to each set of covector fields on a function with the property that for functions , , and
Note that the last property means that contravariant tensor fields of rank are just multilinear functions on the Cartesian product of copies of the module over the ring .
The module of contravariant tensor fields of type on a manifold will be denoted by
Warning. If is a module -not a manifold, in notebook 9a the same notations denote the space of contravariant tensors of rank 𝑘 on the module .
Contravariant tensor fields in components
Using (9.7) we can check that any tensor field of type on is expressed locally as
ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 142: …tial x^{i_k}}. \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.8} \e…One can prove that if are local coordinates on and , then is smooth iff for arbitrary there is a coordinate map around such that the real functions are smooth.
Example 13.11
Let us show an example of tensor field .
Below, we use superscripts to show that the contravariant tensor fields may look in SageMath Manifolds as in textbooks.
Using tensor products it is easy to obtain large outputs.
Example 13.12
The superscripts in contravariant tensor components are not obligatory. Let us modify the previous example using subscripts.
Example 13.13
Let us show an example of (3,0) type tensor field, using superscripts.
Tensor fields of type (mixed tensor fields)
A tensor field of type (a mixed tensor field) on is a map that to each point associates a tensor ( was defined in notebook 9.
A tensor field of type on is a scalar function .
A tensor field of type is smooth if for and , the function that to each point associates the value is smooth.
The sum, the product by scalars, the product by real-valued functions, and the tensor product of mixed tensor fields are defined pointwise as in the case of covariant and contravariant tensors.
for , mixed tensor fields on and (addition is defined only for tensors of the same type).
The set of smooth tensor fields of type on a manifold , will be denoted by .
is a module over the ring .
Warning. Recall, that in notebook 9a, the same symbol denotes the space of mixed tensors on a module .
Tensorial property
As previously, we can check, that tensor fields of type are just multilinear functions on the Cartesian product of copies of the module and copies of the module over the ring .
General tensor fields in components
Generalizing the formulas (13.7) and (13.8) we obtain the following expression for the general tensor field in local components
ParseError: KaTeX parse error: Undefined control sequence: \label at position 256: …imes dx^{j_m}. \̲l̲a̲b̲e̲l̲{}\tag{13.9} \e…Very often the notation is used and then
One can prove that if are local coordinates on and are defined as above, then is smooth iff for arbitrary there is a coordinate map around such that the real functions are smooth.
Example 13.14
Consider a 2-dimensional manifold with global coordinates :
Define a general tensor field of type (1,1).
In the case of mixed type tensor fields it is important to distinguish the lower and upper indices!
With this notations, the tensor product can be computed without problems:
Example 13.15
Now let us try to define (2,2)-type tensor field on the same two-dimensional manifold
Tensor product works with this notations (but the output is very long).
It is easier to check that the linear operations work:
What's next?
Take a look at the notebook Differential k-forms.