Vector calculus identities

Vector calculus identities

The following identities are important in vector calculus:

Operator notations
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), gradient, is a vector field.

, the resulting

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

and is also a 3-dimensional vector field.

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

and is a tensor field of the same order.

Vector calculus identities

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 variable calculus. and follows the same form as the product rule in single

Product of a scalar and a vector

Vector dot product

Alternatively, using Feynman subscript notation,

As a special case, when A = B,

Vector calculus identities

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.

Summary of important identities

Addition and multiplication

(scalar triple product) (vector triple product)

Vector calculus identities

Differentiation
Gradient

DCG chart: A simple chart depicting all rules pertaining to second derivatives. D, C, G, L and CC stand for divergence, curl, gradient, Laplacian and curl of curl, respectively. Arrows indicate existence of second derivatives. Blue circle in the middle represents curl of curl, whereas the other two red circles(dashed) mean that DD and GG do not exist.

Divergence Curl Second derivatives (scalar Laplacian) (vector Laplacian)

Vector calculus identities

Integration
Below, the curly symbol means "boundary of". Surfacevolume integrals In the following surfacevolume integral theorems, V denotes a 3d volume with a corresponding 2d boundary S = V (a closed surface): (Divergence theorem)

(Green's first identity)

second identity) Curvesurface integrals

(Green's

In the following curvesurface integral theorems, S denotes a 2d open surface with a corresponding 1d boundary C = S (a closed curve): Integration around a closed curve in the clockwise sense is the negative of the same line integral in the counterclockwise sense (analogous to interchanging the limits in a definite integral): (Stokes' theorem)

Notes and references

[1] Feynman, R. P.; Leighton, R. B.; Sands, M. (1964). The Feynman Lecture on Physics. Addison-Wesley. Vol II, p. 274. ISBN0-8053-9049-9. [2] Kholmetskii, A. L.; Missevitch, O. V. (2005). "The Faraday induction law in relativity theory". arXiv:physics/0504223[physics.class-ph]. [3] Doran, C.; Lasenby, A. (2003). Geometric algebra for physicists. Cambridge University Press. p.169. ISBN978-0-521-71595-9.

Further reading
Balanis, Constantine A.. Advanced Engineering Electromagnetics. ISBN0-471-62194-3. Schey, H. M. (1997). Div Grad Curl and all that: An informal text on vector calculus. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN0-393-96997-5. Griffiths, David J. (1999). Introduction to Electrodynamics. Prentice Hall. ISBN0-13-805326-X.

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