Vector field

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A portion of the vector field (sin y, sin x)

In vector calculus and physics, a vector field is an assignment of a vector to each

point in a subset of space.[1] For instance, a vector field in the plane can be visualised
as a collection of arrows with a given magnitude and direction, each attached to a
point in the plane. Vector fields are often used to model, for example, the speed and
direction of a moving fluid throughout space, or the strength and direction of
some force, such as the magnetic or gravitational force, as it changes from one point
to another point.
The elements of differential and integral calculus extend naturally to vector fields.
When a vector field represents force, the line integral of a vector field represents
the work done by a force moving along a path, and under this
interpretation conservation of energy is exhibited as a special case of
the fundamental theorem of calculus. Vector fields can usefully be thought of as
representing the velocity of a moving flow in space, and this physical intuition leads
to notions such as the divergence (which represents the rate of change of volume of
a flow) and curl (which represents the rotation of a flow).
In coordinates, a vector field on a domain in n-dimensional Euclidean space can be
represented as a vector-valued function that associates an n-tuple of real numbers to
each point of the domain. This representation of a vector field depends on the
coordinate system, and there is a well-defined transformation law in passing from
one coordinate system to the other. Vector fields are often discussed on open
subsets of Euclidean space, but also make sense on other subsets such
as surfaces, where they associate an arrow tangent to the surface at each point
(a tangent vector).
More generally, vector fields are defined on differentiable manifolds, which are
spaces that look like Euclidean space on small scales, but may have more
complicated structure on larger scales. In this setting, a vector field gives a tangent
vector at each point of the manifold (that is, a section of the tangent bundle to the
manifold). Vector fields are one kind of tensor field.
 Contents

 1Definition
o 1.1Vector fields on subsets of Euclidean space
o 1.2Coordinate transformation law
o 1.3Vector fields on manifolds
 2Examples
o 2.1Gradient field in euclidean spaces
o 2.2Central field in euclidean spaces
 3Operations on vector fields
o 3.1Line integral
o 3.2Divergence
o 3.3Curl in three dimensions
o 3.4Index of a vector field
 4Physical intuition
 5Flow curves
o 5.1Complete vector fields
 6f-relatedness
 7Generalizations
 8See also
 9References
 10Bibliography
 11External links

Definition[edit]
Vector fields on subsets of Euclidean space[edit]

Two representations of the same vector field: {{{1}}}. The arrows depict the field at discrete points,
however, the field exists everywhere.

Given a subset S in Rn, a vector field is represented by a vector-valued

function V: S → Rn in standard Cartesian coordinates (x1, …, xn). If each component
of V is continuous, then V is a continuous vector field, and more generally V is
a Ck vector field if each component of V is k times continuously differentiable.
A vector field can be visualized as assigning a vector to individual points within an n-
dimensional space.[1]
Given two Ck-vector fields V, W defined on S and a real-valued Ck-function f defined
on S, the two operations scalar multiplication and vector addition
define the module of Ck-vector fields over the ring of Ck-functions where the
multiplication of the functions is defined pointwise (therefore, it is
commutative with the multiplicative identity being fid(p) := 1).
Coordinate transformation law[edit]
In physics, a vector is additionally distinguished by how its coordinates
change when one measures the same vector with respect to a different
background coordinate system. The transformation properties of
vectors distinguish a vector as a geometrically distinct entity from a simple list
of scalars, or from a covector.
Thus, suppose that (x1,...,xn) is a choice of Cartesian coordinates, in terms of
which the components of the vector V are
and suppose that (y1,...,yn) are n functions of the xi defining a different
coordinate system. Then the components of the vector V in the new
coordinates are required to satisfy the transformation law
(
1
 

   

)
Such a transformation law is called contravariant. A similar
transformation law characterizes vector fields in physics: specifically, a
vector field is a specification of n functions in each coordinate system
subject to the transformation law (1) relating the different coordinate
systems.
Vector fields are thus contrasted with scalar fields, which associate a
number or scalar to every point in space, and are also contrasted with
simple lists of scalar fields, which do not transform under coordinate
changes.
Vector fields on manifolds[edit]

A vector field on a sphere

Given a differentiable manifold , a vector field on  is an assignment of

a tangent vector to each point in .[2] More precisely, a vector field  is
a mapping from  into the tangent bundle  so that  is the identity
mapping where  denotes the projection from  to . In other words, a
vector field is a section of the tangent bundle.
An alternative definition: A smooth vector field  on a manifold  is
a linear map  such that  is a derivation:  for all .[3]
If the manifold  is smooth or analytic—that is, the change of
coordinates is smooth (analytic)—then one can make sense of the
notion of smooth (analytic) vector fields. The collection of all smooth
vector fields on a smooth manifold  is often denoted by  or  (especially
when thinking of vector fields as sections); the collection of all smooth
vector fields is also denoted by  (a fraktur "X").

Examples[edit]

The flow field around an airplane is a vector field in R3, here visualized by bubbles
that follow the streamlines showing a wingtip vortex.

Vector fields are commonly used to create patterns in computer graphics. Here:
abstract composition of curves following a vector field generated with OpenSimplex
noise.

 A vector field for the movement of air on Earth will associate

for every point on the surface of the Earth a vector with the
wind speed and direction for that point. This can be drawn
using arrows to represent the wind; the length (magnitude)
of the arrow will be an indication of the wind speed. A "high"
on the usual barometric pressure map would then act as a
source (arrows pointing away), and a "low" would be a sink
(arrows pointing towards), since air tends to move from high
pressure areas to low pressure areas.
  Velocity field of a moving fluid. In this case, a velocity vector
is associated to each point in the fluid.
 Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are 3 types of lines
that can be made from (time-dependent) vector fields. They
are:
streaklines: the line produced by particles passing through a specific fixed
point over various times
pathlines: showing the path that a given particle (of zero mass) would follow.
streamlines (or fieldlines): the path of a particle influenced by the
instantaneous field (i.e., the path of a particle if the field is held fixed).

 Magnetic fields. The fieldlines can be revealed using

small iron filings.
 Maxwell's equations allow us to use a given set of initial
and boundary conditions to deduce, for every point
in Euclidean space, a magnitude and direction for
the force experienced by a charged test particle at that
point; the resulting vector field is the electromagnetic
field.
 A gravitational field generated by any massive object is
also a vector field. For example, the gravitational field
vectors for a spherically symmetric body would all point
towards the sphere's center with the magnitude of the
vectors reducing as radial distance from the body
increases.
Gradient field in euclidean spaces[edit]

A vector field that has circulation about a point cannot be written as the gradient
of a function.

Further information: Gradient
Vector fields can be constructed out of scalar fields using
the gradient operator (denoted by the del: ∇).[4]
A vector field V defined on an open set S is called a gradient
field or a conservative field if there exists a real-valued function
(a scalar field) f on S such that
The associated flow is called the gradient flow, and is used in
the method of gradient descent.
The path integral along any closed curve γ (γ(0) = γ(1)) in a
conservative field is zero:
Central field in euclidean spaces[edit]
A C∞-vector field over Rn \ {0} is called a central field if
where O(n, R) is the orthogonal group. We say central
fields are invariant under orthogonal
transformations around 0.
The point 0 is called the center of the field.
Since orthogonal transformations are actually rotations
and reflections, the invariance conditions mean that
vectors of a central field are always directed towards, or
away from, 0; this is an alternate (and simpler)
definition. A central field is always a gradient field, since
defining it on one semiaxis and integrating gives an
antigradient.

Operations on vector fields[edit]

Line integral[edit]
Main article: Line integral
A common technique in physics is to integrate a vector
field along a curve, also called determining its line
integral. Intuitively this is summing up all vector
components in line with the tangents to the curve,
expressed as their scalar products. For example, given
a particle in a force field (e.g. gravitation), where each
vector at some point in space represents the force
acting there on the particle, the line integral along a
certain path is the work done on the particle, when it
travels along this path. Intuitively, it is the sum of the
scalar products of the force vector and the small
tangent vector in each point along the curve.
The line integral is constructed analogously to
the Riemann integral and it exists if the curve is
rectifiable (has finite length) and the vector field is
continuous.
Given a vector field V and a
curve γ, parametrized by t in [a, b] (where a and b are r
eal numbers), the line integral is defined as
Divergence[edit]
Main article: Divergence
The divergence of a vector field on Euclidean space
is a function (or scalar field). In three-dimensions,
the divergence is defined by
with the obvious generalization to arbitrary
dimensions. The divergence at a point
represents the degree to which a small volume
around the point is a source or a sink for the
vector flow, a result which is made precise by
the divergence theorem.
The divergence can also be defined on
a Riemannian manifold, that is, a manifold with
a Riemannian metric that measures the length of
vectors.
Curl in three dimensions[edit]
Main article: Curl (mathematics)
The curl is an operation which takes a vector
field and produces another vector field. The curl
is defined only in three dimensions, but some
properties of the curl can be captured in higher
dimensions with the exterior derivative. In three
dimensions, it is defined by
The curl measures the density of the angular
momentum of the vector flow at a point, that
is, the amount to which the flow circulates
around a fixed axis. This intuitive description
is made precise by Stokes' theorem.
Index of a vector field[edit]
The index of a vector field is an integer that
helps to describe the behaviour of a vector
field around an isolated zero (i.e., an isolated
singularity of the field). In the plane, the
index takes the value -1 at a saddle
singularity but +1 at a source or sink
singularity.
Let the dimension of the manifold on which
the vector field is defined be n. Take a small
sphere S around the zero so that no other
zeros lie in the interior of S. A map from this
sphere to a unit sphere of dimensions n − 1
can be constructed by dividing each vector
on this sphere by its length to form a unit
length vector, which is a point on the unit
sphere Sn-1. This defines a continuous map
from S to Sn-1. The index of the vector field at
the point is the degree of this map. It can be
shown that this integer does not depend on
the choice of S, and therefore depends only
on the vector field itself.
The index of the vector field as a whole is
defined when it has just a finite number of
zeroes. In this case, all zeroes are isolated,
and the index of the vector field is defined to
be the sum of the indices at all zeroes.
The index is not defined at any non-singular
point (i.e., a point where the vector is non-
zero). it is equal to +1 around a source, and
more generally equal to (−1)k around a
saddle that has k contracting dimensions
and n-k expanding dimensions. For an
ordinary (2-dimensional) sphere in three-
dimensional space, it can be shown that the
index of any vector field on the sphere must
be 2. This shows that every such vector field
must have a zero. This implies the hairy ball
theorem, which states that if a vector in R3 is
assigned to each point of the unit sphere
S2 in a continuous manner, then it is
impossible to "comb the hairs flat", i.e., to
choose the vectors in a continuous way such
that they are all non-zero and tangent to S 2.
For a vector field on a compact manifold with
a finite number of zeroes, the Poincaré-Hopf
theorem states that the index of the vector
field is equal to the Euler characteristic of the
manifold.

Physical intuition[edit]

Magnetic field lines of an iron bar (magnetic dipole)

Michael Faraday, in his concept of lines of

force, emphasized that the field itself should
be an object of study, which it has become
throughout physics in the form of field theory.
In addition to the magnetic field, other
phenomena that were modeled by Faraday
include the electrical field and light field.

Flow curves[edit]
Main article: Integral curve
Consider the flow of a fluid through a region
of space. At any given time, any point of the
fluid has a particular velocity associated with
it; thus there is a vector field associated to
any flow. The converse is also true: it is
possible to associate a flow to a vector field
having that vector field as its velocity.
Given a vector field V defined on S, one
defines curves γ(t) on S such that for
each t in an interval I
By the Picard–Lindelöf theorem,
if V is Lipschitz continuous there is
a unique C1-curve γx for each
point x in S so that, for some ε > 0,
The curves γx are called integral
curves or trajectories (or less
commonly, flow lines) of the
vector field V and
partition S into equivalence
classes. It is not always possible
to extend the interval (−ε, +ε) to
the whole real number line. The
flow may for example reach the
edge of S in a finite time. In two or
three dimensions one can
visualize the vector field as giving
rise to a flow on S. If we drop a
particle into this flow at a point p it
will move along the curve γp in the
flow depending on the initial
point p. If p is a stationary point
of V (i.e., the vector field is equal
to the zero vector at the point p),
then the particle will remain at p.
Typical applications
are pathline in fluid, geodesic
flow, and one-parameter
subgroups and the exponential
map in Lie groups.
Complete vector fields[edit]
By definition, a vector field is
called complete if every one of its
flow curves exist for all time.[5] In
particular, compactly
supported vector fields on a
manifold are complete. If  is a
complete vector field on , then
the one-parameter
group of diffeomorphisms generat
ed by the flow along  exists for all
time. On a compact manifold
without boundary, every smooth
vector field is complete. An
example of an incomplete vector
field  on the real line  is given by .
For, the differential equation , with
initial condition , has as its unique
solution  if  (and  for all  if ). Hence
for ,  is undefined at  so cannot be
defined for all values of .

f-relatedness[edit]
Given a smooth function between
manifolds, f : M → N,
the derivative is an induced map
on tangent bundles, f* : TM → TN.
Given vector
fields V : M → TM and W : N → T
N, we say that W is f-related
to V if the
equation W ∘ f = f∗ ∘ V holds.
If Vi is f-related to Wi, i = 1, 2, then
the Lie bracket [V1, V2] is f-related
to [W1, W2].

Generalizations[edit]
Replacing vectors by p-
vectors (pth exterior power of
vectors) yields p-vector fields;
taking the dual space and exterior
powers yields differential k-forms,
and combining these yields
general tensor fields.
Algebraically, vector fields can be
characterized as derivations of
the algebra of smooth functions
on the manifold, which leads to
defining a vector field on a
commutative algebra as a
derivation on the algebra, which is
developed in the theory
of differential calculus over
commutative algebras.