RELATIVITY (MTH6132)

SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM SET 5

1.
(i) The transformation laws are, respectively
V

i
=
x
a
x
i
V
a
, W
jk
l
=
x
j
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
W
bc
d
.
(ii) Let Y
il
jk
V
i
W
jk
l
. Using the result from (i) one has that
Y

il
jk
= V

i
W
jk
l
=
x
a
x
i
V
a
x
j
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
W
bc
d
=
x
a
x
i
x
j
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
V
a
W
bc
d
=
x
a
x
i
x
j
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
Y
ad
bc
,
which is the transformation rule for a (2, 2) tensor.
(iii) Let Y
il
jk
be a tensor of type (2, 2). From (ii) one has that its transformation rule
is
Y

il
jk
=
x
a
x
i
x
j
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
Y
ad
bc
.
Contract i and j:
Y

il
ik
=
x
a
x
i
x
i
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
Y
ad
bc
,
=
x
a
x
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
Y
ad
bc
=
a
b
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
Y
ad
bc
=
x
k
x
c
x
d
x
l
Y
ad
ac
which is the transformation rule of a (1, 1) tensor.
2. The transformation rules for A
i
and B
i
are
A

i
=
x
k
x
i
A
k
, B
i
=
x
i
x
l
B
l
.
Now,
A

i
B
i
=
x
k
x
i
A
k
x
i
x
l
B
l
=
x
k
x
i
A
k
x
i
x
l
A
k
B
l
,
=
x
k
x
l
A
k
B
l
=
k
l
A
k
B
l
= A
k
B
k
,
as required.
3. As T
ab
V
a
W
b
is a scalar one has that
T
ab
V
a
W
b
= T
ab
V

a
W

b
.
Now, V
a
and W
b
are covariant so that
T
ab
V
a
W
b
= T
ab
x
e
x
a
x
f
x
b
V
e
W
f
.
From here it follows that

T
ef
T
ab
x
e
x
a
x
f
x
b

V
e
W
f
= 0,
where it has been used that T
ab
V
a
W
b
= T
ef
V
e
W
f
as the indices a and b are dummy.
As V
e
and W
f
are arbitrary, it follows that
T
ef
T
ab
x
e
x
a
x
f
x
b
= 0 =T
ef
= T
ab
x
e
x
a
x
f
x
b
.
5. One uses the properties of the tensors as follows
A
ij
B
ij
= A
ij
B
ji
= A
ji
B
ji
= A
ij
B
ij
.
The rst equality follows from the antisymmetry of B
ij
. The second from the symme-
try of A
ij
. The third from the fact that i and j are dummies so one can interchange
them at the same time. It follows that A
ij
B
ij
= 0.
6. If V
ab
is a tensor of type (0, 2), then
V

ab
=
x
c
x
a
x
d
x
b
V
cd
.
Now, because of V
ab
= V
ba
, one has that
V

ab
=
x
c
x
a
x
d
x
b
V
dc
= V

ba
.
Thus, the symmetry is valid in any coordinate system.