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1) The document provides answers to problems involving tensors, vector calculus, Maxwell's equations, and quantum mechanics. Key topics covered include properties of Kronecker deltas and Levi-Civita symbols, transformations of tensors and pseudotensors, vector identities, and representations of rotations. 2) Maxwell's equations are rewritten without pseudotensors by using scalar, vector, and higher rank tensor equations. Conservation of energy and momentum for the electromagnetic field are also derived. 3) Commutation relations between Pauli matrices are shown to be equivalent to properties of the Levi-Civita symbol. Infinitesimal rotations of spin vectors are expressed using commutators of the Pauli matrices and rotation generators.

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207 views4 pages

Answers 8

1) The document provides answers to problems involving tensors, vector calculus, Maxwell's equations, and quantum mechanics. Key topics covered include properties of Kronecker deltas and Levi-Civita symbols, transformations of tensors and pseudotensors, vector identities, and representations of rotations. 2) Maxwell's equations are rewritten without pseudotensors by using scalar, vector, and higher rank tensor equations. Conservation of energy and momentum for the electromagnetic field are also derived. 3) Commutation relations between Pauli matrices are shown to be equivalent to properties of the Levi-Civita symbol. Infinitesimal rotations of spin vectors are expressed using commutators of the Pauli matrices and rotation generators.

Uploaded by

Roy Vesey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mathematical Methods Spring Term 2019

Answers to Problem Sheet 8

1. i)
a) δij δij = 3 b) δij δjk δkl δli = 3 c) ijk jki = 6.

ii) ikl jkl = 2δij .


Direct proof just insert values of k and l that could lead to a non-zero
contribution:

ikl jkl = i12 j12 + i21 j21 + i23 j23 + i32 j32 + i31 j31 + i13 j13

6 j, eg. the first term is zero


Each of the six contributions is zero if i =
unless i = j = 3. For each i = j two of the six terms are 1 with the
four remaining terms vanishing. Hence ikl jkl = 2δij .
Elegant proof Note that ikl jkl is an isotropic tensor (not a pseudo-
tensor). Any isotropic cartesian tensor of rank two is proportional to
δij . Taking i = j = 1 fixes the constant of proportionality to be 2.
iii) Suppose Ui and Vi are axial. Under an orthogonal transformation
x0i = Rij xj they transform according to

Ui0 = det R Rij Uj , Vi0 = det R Rij Vj .

Therefore Uk Vj transform like a rank two tensor (as (det R)2 = 1). The
cross product of U and V has components (U × V)i = ijk Uj Vk . This
is obtained by contracting the pseudo-tensor ijk with the tensor Uj Vk
giving a pseudo-tensor (or axial vector since the rank is one).

2. i) To show that
det A = ijk A1i A2j A3j .

compute the right hand side (note that 21 of the 27 components of ijk
are zero)

ijk A1i A2j A3j = 123 A11 A22 A33 + 132 A11 A23 A32

+ 213 A12 A21 A33 + 231 A12 A23 A31


+ 312 A13 A21 A32 + 321 A13 A22 A31
= A11 A22 A33 − A11 A23 A32
+A12 A21 A33 − A12 A23 A31

1
+A13 A21 A32 − A13 A22 A31
which match the six terms in det A
ii) To show that under proper rotations ijk is a rank 3 tensor we need
to establish that
Rip Rjq Rkr pqr = ijk
where Rij is an orthogonal matrix with determinant one.
Setting Ast = Rst in the result from part i) proves the result for i = 1,
j = 2, k = 3 (using 123 = 1) To show that it holds for the other 26
components it is sufficient to show that Rip Rjq Rkr pqr is totally anti-
symmetric (i.e., it changes sign under an interchange of two indices).
Consider an interchange of i and j:

Rjp Riq Rkr pqr = Rjq Rip Rkr qpr = −Rip Rjq Rkr pqr .

In the second step p was relabelled as q and vice versa. Similarly


Rip Rjq Rkr pqr is anti-symmetric with respect to any other interchange
of indices.

3. i) To prove ijp klp = δik δjl − δil δjk expand the left hand side

LHS = ij1 kl1 + ij2 kl2 + ij3 kl3

This is zero for most choices of i, j, k, l (how many?). To get a non-zero


result (which can only be ±1) one must have i 6= j and k and l must
be the same two numbers as i and j
To get 1 requires i 6= j and k = i and l = j (6 possibilities)
To get −1 requires i 6= j and k = j and l = i (6 possibilities)
In all cases it is easy to check that the right hand side yields the same
result.
ii) [A×(B×C)]i = ijk Aj (B×C)k = ijk Aj klm Bl Cm = ijk klm Aj Bl Cm
= ijk lmk Aj Bl Cm = (δil δjm −δim δjl )Aj Bl Cm = Bi (Aj Cj )−Ci (Aj Bj ) =
[(A · C)B − (A · B)C]i .
iii) ∇ · (A × B) = ∂i (A × B)i = ∂i ijk Aj Bk = Bk ijk ∂i Aj + Aj ∂ijk Bk =
Bk kij ∂i Aj − Aj jik ∂i Bk = B · (∇ × A) − A · (∇ × B).

4.
ρ ∂E ∂B
∇·E= , ∇ × B = µ0 j + µ0 0 , ∇×E=− , ∇ · B = 0.
0 ∂t ∂t

2
i) The trick is not to use the pseudo-tensors Bi and ijk . This is pos-
sible as Maxwell’s equations are parity invariant! The first three are
straightforward (a quick calculation may be needed to work out the
coefficients):

ρ ∂Ei ∂Fij
∂i Ei = , ∂j Fij = µ0 ji + µ0 0 , ∂i Ej − ∂j Ei = − .
0 ∂t ∂t

Finally, ∇ · B = 0 can be written as (this is not so obvious)

∂i Fjk + ∂j Fki + ∂k Fij = 0.

Note that the four equation are written consecutively as scalar, vector,
rank 2 tensor and rank 3 tensor equations.
ii)
1 0 1
S= E × B, u= E·E+ B · B.
µ0 2 2µ0
can be written in the form

1  1
Si = Fij Ej , u = Ei Ei + Fij Fij .
µ0 2 4µ0
Si is polar since it is a contraction of two tensors (no pseudo-tensors
involved). Alternatively, it is polar as it is the cross product of a polar
and an axial vector.
iii)
∂u ∂Ei 1 ∂Fij 1
+ ∂i Si = 0 Ei + Fij + ∂i (Fij Ej )
∂t ∂t 2µ0 ∂t µ0
1 1 1
= −Ei ji + Ei ∂j Fij − Fij (∂i Ej − ∂j Ei ) + ∂i (Fij Ej )
µ0 2µ0 µ0
using two of Maxwell’s equation to eliminate the time derivatives. All
term on the right hand side of the above equation cancel apart from
the −Ei ji contribution. To show the cancellation use

Fij (∂i Ej − ∂j Ei ) = 2Fij ∂i Ej .

5. i) The Pauli matrices satisfy the commutation relations [σ1 , σ2 ] = 2iσ3 ,


[σ2 , σ3 ] = 2iσ1 , [σ3 , σ1 ] = 2iσ2 . These are equivalent to [σi , σj ] =

3
2iijk σk (9 equations, 3 of which give 0 = 0, the other 6 give ± the
commutation relations).
ii)
1 1
Bi0 σi = e− 2 iθn̂·σ Bi σi e 2 iθn̂·σ = (I − 12 iθn̂ · σ + ...)Bi σi (I + 21 iθn̂ · σ + ...)

= Bi σi − 21 iθn̂ · σBi σi + Bi σi 12 iθn̂ · σ + ...


Here I is the 2 × 2 identity matrix.
iii) Computing σi Bi0 for an infinitesimal rotation

σi Bi0 = σi (δij − θijk nk )Bj

Now σi ijk = jki σi = [σj , σk ]/(2i) so that

iθ iθ
σi Bi0 = σi Bi + [σj , σk ]Bj nk = σi Bi − [n̂ · σ, Bi σi ].
2 2

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