Tensor

In mathematics, a tensor is an algebraic object that

describes a multilinear relationship between sets of
algebraic objects related to a vector space. Tensors may
map between different objects such as vectors, scalars,
and even other tensors. There are many types of
tensors, including scalars and vectors (which are the
simplest tensors), dual vectors, multilinear maps
between vector spaces, and even some operations such
as the dot product. Tensors are defined independent of
any basis, although they are often referred to by their
components in a basis related to a particular coordinate
system; those components form an array, which can be
thought of as a high-dimensional matrix.

Tensors have become important in physics because

they provide a concise mathematical framework for The second-order Cauchy stress tensor
formulating and solving physics problems in areas such describes the stress experienced by a material at
as mechanics (stress, elasticity, fluid mechanics, a given point. For any unit vector , the product
moment of inertia, ...), electrodynamics is a vector, denoted , that quantifies
(electromagnetic tensor, Maxwell tensor, permittivity, the force per area along the plane perpendicular to
magnetic susceptibility, ...), general relativity (stress– . This image shows, for cube faces perpendicular
energy tensor, curvature tensor, ...) and others. In to , the corresponding stress vectors
applications, it is common to study situations in which along those faces. Because
a different tensor can occur at each point of an object; the stress tensor takes one vector as input and
for example the stress within an object may vary from gives one vector as output, it is a second-order
one location to another. This leads to the concept of a tensor.
tensor field. In some areas, tensor fields are so
ubiquitous that they are often simply called "tensors".

Tullio Levi-Civita and Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro popularised tensors in 1900 – continuing the earlier work
of Bernhard Riemann, Elwin Bruno Christoffel, and others – as part of the absolute differential calculus.
The concept enabled an alternative formulation of the intrinsic differential geometry of a manifold in the
form of the Riemann curvature tensor.[1]

Definition
Although seemingly different, the various approaches to defining tensors describe the same geometric
concept using different language and at different levels of abstraction.

As multidimensional arrays

A tensor may be represented as a (potentially multidimensional) array. Just as a vector in an n -dimensional

space is represented by a one-dimensional array with n components with respect to a given basis, any
tensor with respect to a basis is represented by a multidimensional array. For example, a linear operator is
represented in a basis as a two-dimensional square n × n array. The numbers in the multidimensional array
are known as the components of the tensor. They are denoted by indices giving their position in the array,
as subscripts and superscripts, following the symbolic name of the tensor. For example, the components of
an order 2 tensor T could be denoted T ij , where i and j are indices running from 1 to n , or also by T ij.
Whether an index is displayed as a superscript or subscript depends on the transformation properties of the
tensor, described below. Thus while T ij and T ij can both be expressed as n-by-n matrices, and are
numerically related via index juggling, the difference in their transformation laws indicates it would be
improper to add them together.

The total number of indices (m) required to identify each component uniquely is equal to the dimension or
the number of ways of an array, which is why an array is sometimes referred to as an m-dimensional array
or an m-way array. The total number of indices is also called the order, degree or rank of a tensor,[2][3][4]
although the term "rank" generally has another meaning in the context of matrices and tensors.

Just as the components of a vector change when we change the basis of the vector space, the components
of a tensor also change under such a transformation. Each type of tensor comes equipped with a
transformation law that details how the components of the tensor respond to a change of basis. The
components of a vector can respond in two distinct ways to a change of basis (see Covariance and
contravariance of vectors), where the new basis vectors are expressed in terms of the old basis vectors
as,

Here R ji are the entries of the change of basis matrix, and in the rightmost expression the summation sign
was suppressed: this is the Einstein summation convention, which will be used throughout this
article.[Note 1] The components vi of a column vector v transform with the inverse of the matrix R,

where the hat denotes the components in the new basis. This is called a contravariant transformation law,
because the vector components transform by the inverse of the change of basis. In contrast, the
components, wi, of a covector (or row vector), w, transform with the matrix R itself,

This is called a covariant transformation law, because the covector components transform by the same
matrix as the change of basis matrix. The components of a more general tensor are transformed by some
combination of covariant and contravariant transformations, with one transformation law for each index. If
the transformation matrix of an index is the inverse matrix of the basis transformation, then the index is
called contravariant and is conventionally denoted with an upper index (superscript). If the transformation
matrix of an index is the basis transformation itself, then the index is called covariant and is denoted with a
lower index (subscript).

As a simple example, the matrix of a linear operator with respect to a basis is a rectangular array that
transforms under a change of basis matrix by . For the individual matrix entries,

this transformation law has the form so the tensor corresponding to the matrix of a
linear operator has one covariant and one contravariant index: it is of type (1,1).
Combinations of covariant and contravariant components with the same index allow us to express
geometric invariants. For example, the fact that a vector is the same object in different coordinate systems
can be captured by the following equations, using the formulas defined above:

where is the Kronecker delta, which functions similarly to the identity matrix, and has the effect of
renaming indices (j into k in this example). This shows several features of the component notation: the
ability to re-arrange terms at will (commutativity), the need to use different indices when working with
multiple objects in the same expression, the ability to rename indices, and the manner in which
contravariant and covariant tensors combine so that all instances of the transformation matrix and its inverse
cancel, so that expressions like can immediately be seen to be geometrically identical in all coordinate
systems.

Similarly, a linear operator, viewed as a geometric object, does not actually depend on a basis: it is just a
linear map that accepts a vector as an argument and produces another vector. The transformation law for
how the matrix of components of a linear operator changes with the basis is consistent with the
transformation law for a contravariant vector, so that the action of a linear operator on a contravariant vector
is represented in coordinates as the matrix product of their respective coordinate representations. That is, the
components are given by . These components transform contravariantly, since

The transformation law for an order p + q tensor with p contravariant indices and q covariant indices is
thus given as,

Here the primed indices denote components in the new coordinates, and the unprimed indices denote the
components in the old coordinates. Such a tensor is said to be of order or type (p, q). The terms "order",
"type", "rank", "valence", and "degree" are all sometimes used for the same concept. Here, the term
"order" or "total order" will be used for the total dimension of the array (or its generalization in other
definitions), p + q in the preceding example, and the term "type" for the pair giving the number of
contravariant and covariant indices. A tensor of type (p, q) is also called a (p, q)-tensor for short.

This discussion motivates the following formal definition:[5][6]

Definition. A tensor of type (p, q) is an assignment of a multidimensional array

to each basis f = (e1, ..., en) of an n-dimensional vector space such that, if we apply the
change of basis

then the multidimensional array obeys the transformation law

The definition of a tensor as a multidimensional array satisfying a transformation law traces back to the
work of Ricci.[1]

An equivalent definition of a tensor uses the representations of the general linear group. There is an action
of the general linear group on the set of all ordered bases of an n-dimensional vector space. If
is an ordered basis, and is an invertible matrix, then the action is
given by

Let F be the set of all ordered bases. Then F is a principal homogeneous space for GL(n). Let W be a
vector space and let be a representation of GL(n) on W (that is, a group homomorphism
). Then a tensor of type is an equivariant map . Equivariance here
means that

When is a tensor representation of the general linear group, this gives the usual definition of tensors as
multidimensional arrays. This definition is often used to describe tensors on manifolds,[7] and readily
generalizes to other groups.[5]

As multilinear maps

A downside to the definition of a tensor using the multidimensional array approach is that it is not apparent
from the definition that the defined object is indeed basis independent, as is expected from an intrinsically
geometric object. Although it is possible to show that transformation laws indeed ensure independence from
the basis, sometimes a more intrinsic definition is preferred. One approach that is common in differential
geometry is to define tensors relative to a fixed (finite-dimensional) vector space V, which is usually taken
to be a particular vector space of some geometrical significance like the tangent space to a manifold.[8] In
this approach, a type (p, q) tensor T is defined as a multilinear map,

where V∗ is the corresponding dual space of covectors, which is linear in each of its arguments. The above
assumes V is a vector space over the real numbers, ℝ. More generally, V can be taken over any field F (e.g.
the complex numbers), with F replacing ℝ as the codomain of the multilinear maps.

By applying a multilinear map T of type (p, q) to a basis {ej} for V and a canonical cobasis {εi} for V∗,

a (p + q)-dimensional array of components can be obtained. A different choice of basis will yield different
components. But, because T is linear in all of its arguments, the components satisfy the tensor
transformation law used in the multilinear array definition. The multidimensional array of components of T
thus form a tensor according to that definition. Moreover, such an array can be realized as the components
of some multilinear map T. This motivates viewing multilinear maps as the intrinsic objects underlying
tensors.

In viewing a tensor as a multilinear map, it is conventional to identify the double dual V∗∗ of the vector
space V, i.e., the space of linear functionals on the dual vector space V∗, with the vector space V. There is
always a natural linear map from V to its double dual, given by evaluating a linear form in V∗ against a
vector in V. This linear mapping is an isomorphism in finite dimensions, and it is often then expedient to
identify V with its double dual.

Using tensor products

For some mathematical applications, a more abstract approach is sometimes useful. This can be achieved by
defining tensors in terms of elements of tensor products of vector spaces, which in turn are defined through
a universal property as explained here and here.

A type (p, q) tensor is defined in this context as an element of the tensor product of vector spaces,[9][10]

A basis vi of V and basis wj of W naturally induce a basis vi ⊗ wj of the tensor product V ⊗ W. The
components of a tensor T are the coefficients of the tensor with respect to the basis obtained from a basis
{ei} for V and its dual basis {ε j}, i.e.

Using the properties of the tensor product, it can be shown that these components satisfy the transformation
law for a type (p, q) tensor. Moreover, the universal property of the tensor product gives a one-to-one
correspondence between tensors defined in this way and tensors defined as multilinear maps.

This 1 to 1 correspondence can be archived the following way, because in the finite dimensional case there
exists a canonical isomorphism between a vectorspace and its double dual:

The last line is using the universal property of the tensor product, that there is a 1 to 1 correspondence
between maps from and .[11]

Tensor products can be defined in great generality – for example, involving arbitrary modules over a ring.
In principle, one could define a "tensor" simply to be an element of any tensor product. However, the
mathematics literature usually reserves the term tensor for an element of a tensor product of any number of
copies of a single vector space V and its dual, as above.

Tensors in infinite dimensions

This discussion of tensors so far assumes finite dimensionality of the spaces involved, where the spaces of
tensors obtained by each of these constructions are naturally isomorphic.[Note 2] Constructions of spaces of
tensors based on the tensor product and multilinear mappings can be generalized, essentially without
modification, to vector bundles or coherent sheaves.[12] For infinite-dimensional vector spaces, inequivalent
topologies lead to inequivalent notions of tensor, and these various isomorphisms may or may not hold
depending on what exactly is meant by a tensor (see topological tensor product). In some applications, it is
the tensor product of Hilbert spaces that is intended, whose properties are the most similar to the finite-
dimensional case. A more modern view is that it is the tensors' structure as a symmetric monoidal category
that encodes their most important properties, rather than the specific models of those categories.[13]

Tensor fields

In many applications, especially in differential geometry and physics, it is natural to consider a tensor with
components that are functions of the point in a space. This was the setting of Ricci's original work. In
modern mathematical terminology such an object is called a tensor field, often referred to simply as a
tensor.[1]

In this context, a coordinate basis is often chosen for the tangent vector space. The transformation law may
then be expressed in terms of partial derivatives of the coordinate functions,

defining a coordinate transformation,[1]

History
The concepts of later tensor analysis arose from the work of Carl Friedrich Gauss in differential geometry,
and the formulation was much influenced by the theory of algebraic forms and invariants developed during
the middle of the nineteenth century.[14] The word "tensor" itself was introduced in 1846 by William
Rowan Hamilton[15] to describe something different from what is now meant by a tensor.[Note 3] Gibbs
introduced Dyadics and Polyadic algebra, which are also tensors in the modern sense.[16] The
contemporary usage was introduced by Woldemar Voigt in 1898.[17]

Tensor calculus was developed around 1890 by Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro under the title absolute
differential calculus, and originally presented by Ricci-Curbastro in 1892.[18] It was made accessible to
many mathematicians by the publication of Ricci-Curbastro and Tullio Levi-Civita's 1900 classic text
Méthodes de calcul différentiel absolu et leurs applications (Methods of absolute differential calculus and
their applications).[19] In Ricci's notation, he refers to "systems" with covariant and contravariant
components, which are known as tensor fields in the modern sense. [16]

In the 20th century, the subject came to be known as tensor analysis, and achieved broader acceptance with
the introduction of Einstein's theory of general relativity, around 1915. General relativity is formulated
completely in the language of tensors. Einstein had learned about them, with great difficulty, from the
geometer Marcel Grossmann.[20] Levi-Civita then initiated a correspondence with Einstein to correct
mistakes Einstein had made in his use of tensor analysis. The correspondence lasted 1915–17, and was
characterized by mutual respect:
 I admire the elegance of your method of computation; it must be nice to ride through these
fields upon the horse of true mathematics while the like of us have to make our way
laboriously on foot.

— Albert Einstein[21]

Tensors were also found to be useful in other fields such as continuum mechanics. Some well-known
examples of tensors in differential geometry are quadratic forms such as metric tensors, and the Riemann
curvature tensor. The exterior algebra of Hermann Grassmann, from the middle of the nineteenth century, is
itself a tensor theory, and highly geometric, but it was some time before it was seen, with the theory of
differential forms, as naturally unified with tensor calculus. The work of Élie Cartan made differential forms
one of the basic kinds of tensors used in mathematics, and Hassler Whitney popularized the tensor product.
[16]

From about the 1920s onwards, it was realised that tensors play a basic role in algebraic topology (for
example in the Künneth theorem).[22] Correspondingly there are types of tensors at work in many branches
of abstract algebra, particularly in homological algebra and representation theory. Multilinear algebra can be
developed in greater generality than for scalars coming from a field. For example, scalars can come from a
ring. But the theory is then less geometric and computations more technical and less algorithmic.[23]
Tensors are generalized within category theory by means of the concept of monoidal category, from the
1960s.[24]

Examples
An elementary example of a mapping describable as a tensor is the dot product, which maps two vectors to
a scalar. A more complex example is the Cauchy stress tensor T, which takes a directional unit vector v as
input and maps it to the stress vector T(v), which is the force (per unit area) exerted by material on the
negative side of the plane orthogonal to v against the material on the positive side of the plane, thus
expressing a relationship between these two vectors, shown in the figure (right). The cross product, where
two vectors are mapped to a third one, is strictly speaking not a tensor because it changes its sign under
those transformations that change the orientation of the coordinate system. The totally anti-symmetric
symbol nevertheless allows a convenient handling of the cross product in equally oriented three
dimensional coordinate systems.

This table shows important examples of tensors on vector spaces and tensor fields on manifolds. The
tensors are classified according to their type (n, m), where n is the number of contravariant indices, m is
the number of covariant indices, and n + m gives the total order of the tensor. For example, a bilinear form
is the same thing as a (0, 2)-tensor; an inner product is an example of a (0, 2)-tensor, but not all (0, 2)-
tensors are inner products. In the (0, M)-entry of the table, M denotes the dimensionality of the underlying
vector space or manifold because for each dimension of the space, a separate index is needed to select that
dimension to get a maximally covariant antisymmetric tensor.
 Example tensors on vector spaces and tensor fields on manifolds
m

0 1 2 3 ⋯ M ⋯

Bilinear form,
e.g. inner
product,
Covector, linear quadrupole
Scalar, e.g. functional, 1-form, moment, 3-form E.g. E.g. M-form
0 scalar e.g. dipole moment, metric tensor, octupole i.e. volume
curvature gradient of a scalar Ricci moment form
field curvature, 2-
form,
symplectic
form
E.g. cross
Linear E.g. Riemann
n Euclidean product in
1
vector transformation,[25] three
curvature
Kronecker delta tensor
dimensions

Inverse metric
tensor,
E.g. elasticity
2 bivector, e.g.,
tensor
Poisson
structure

⋮
N Multivector

Raising an index on an (n, m)-tensor produces an (n + 1, m − 1)-tensor; this corresponds to moving

diagonally down and to the left on the table. Symmetrically, lowering an index corresponds to moving
diagonally up and to the right on the table. Contraction of an upper with a lower index of an (n, m)-tensor
produces an (n − 1, m − 1)-tensor; this corresponds to moving diagonally up and to the left on the table.

Orientation defined by an ordered set Reversed orientation corresponds to

of vectors. negating the exterior product.
Geometric interpretation of grade n elements in a real exterior algebra for n = 0 (signed point), 1 (directed line
segment, or vector), 2 (oriented plane element), 3 (oriented volume). The exterior product of n vectors can be
visualized as any n-dimensional shape (e.g. n-parallelotope, n-ellipsoid); with magnitude (hypervolume), and
orientation defined by that on its n − 1-dimensional boundary and on which side the interior is.[26][27]
Assuming a basis of a real vector space, e.g., a coordinate frame in the ambient space, a tensor can be
represented as an organized multidimensional array of numerical values with respect to this specific basis.
Changing the basis transforms the values in the array in a characteristic way that allows to define tensors as
objects adhering to this transformational behavior. For example, there are invariants of tensors that must be
preserved under any change of the basis, thereby making only certain multidimensional arrays of numbers a
tensor. Compare this to the array representing not being a tensor, for the sign change under
transformations changing the orientation.

Because the components of vectors and their duals transform differently under the change of their dual
bases, there is a covariant and/or contravariant transformation law that relates the arrays, which represent
the tensor with respect to one basis and that with respect to the other one. The numbers of, respectively,
vectors: n (contravariant indices) and dual vectors: m (covariant indices) in the input and output of a tensor
determine the type (or valence) of the tensor, a pair of natural numbers (n, m), which determine the precise
form of the transformation law. The order of a tensor is the sum of these two numbers.

The order (also degree or rank) of a tensor is thus the sum of the orders of its arguments plus the order of
the resulting tensor. This is also the dimensionality of the array of numbers needed to represent the tensor
with respect to a specific basis, or equivalently, the number of indices needed to label each component in
that array. For example, in a fixed basis, a standard linear map that maps a vector to a vector, is represented
by a matrix (a 2-dimensional array), and therefore is a 2nd-order tensor. A simple vector can be represented
as a 1-dimensional array, and is therefore a 1st-order tensor. Scalars are simple numbers and are thus 0th-
order tensors. This way the tensor representing the scalar product, taking two vectors and resulting in a
scalar has order 2 + 0 = 2 , the same as the stress tensor, taking one vector and returning another
1 + 1 = 2. The -symbol, mapping two vectors to one vector, would have order 2 + 1 = 3.

The collection of tensors on a vector space and its dual forms a tensor algebra, which allows products of
arbitrary tensors. Simple applications of tensors of order 2 , which can be represented as a square matrix,
can be solved by clever arrangement of transposed vectors and by applying the rules of matrix
multiplication, but the tensor product should not be confused with this.

Notation
There are several notational systems that are used to describe tensors and perform calculations involving
them.

Ricci calculus

Ricci calculus is the modern formalism and notation for tensor indices: indicating inner and outer products,
covariance and contravariance, summations of tensor components, symmetry and antisymmetry, and partial
and covariant derivatives.

Einstein summation convention

The Einstein summation convention dispenses with writing summation signs, leaving the summation
implicit. Any repeated index symbol is summed over: if the index i is used twice in a given term of a tensor
expression, it means that the term is to be summed for all i. Several distinct pairs of indices may be summed
this way.

Penrose graphical notation

Penrose graphical notation is a diagrammatic notation which replaces the symbols for tensors with shapes,
and their indices by lines and curves. It is independent of basis elements, and requires no symbols for the
indices.

Abstract index notation

The abstract index notation is a way to write tensors such that the indices are no longer thought of as
numerical, but rather are indeterminates. This notation captures the expressiveness of indices and the basis-
independence of index-free notation.

Component-free notation

A component-free treatment of tensors uses notation that emphasises that tensors do not rely on any basis,
and is defined in terms of the tensor product of vector spaces.

Operations
There are several operations on tensors that again produce a tensor. The linear nature of tensor implies that
two tensors of the same type may be added together, and that tensors may be multiplied by a scalar with
results analogous to the scaling of a vector. On components, these operations are simply performed
component-wise. These operations do not change the type of the tensor; but there are also operations that
produce a tensor of different type.

Tensor product

The tensor product takes two tensors, S and T, and produces a new tensor, S ⊗ T , whose order is the sum
of the orders of the original tensors. When described as multilinear maps, the tensor product simply
multiplies the two tensors, i.e.,

which again produces a map that is linear in all its arguments. On components, the effect is to multiply the
components of the two input tensors pairwise, i.e.,

If S is of type (l, k) and T is of type (n, m), then the tensor product S ⊗ T has type (l + n, k + m).

Contraction
Tensor contraction is an operation that reduces a type (n, m) tensor to a type (n − 1, m − 1) tensor, of which
the trace is a special case. It thereby reduces the total order of a tensor by two. The operation is achieved by
summing components for which one specified contravariant index is the same as one specified covariant
index to produce a new component. Components for which those two indices are different are discarded.
For example, a (1, 1)-tensor can be contracted to a scalar through . Where the summation is again
implied. When the (1, 1)-tensor is interpreted as a linear map, this operation is known as the trace.

The contraction is often used in conjunction with the tensor product to contract an index from each tensor.

The contraction can also be understood using the definition of a tensor as an element of a tensor product of
copies of the space V with the space V∗ by first decomposing the tensor into a linear combination of simple
tensors, and then applying a factor from V∗ to a factor from V. For example, a tensor
can be written as a linear combination

The contraction of T on the first and last slots is then the vector

In a vector space with an inner product (also known as a metric) g, the term contraction is used for
removing two contravariant or two covariant indices by forming a trace with the metric tensor or its inverse.
For example, a (2, 0)-tensor can be contracted to a scalar through (yet again assuming the
summation convention).

Raising or lowering an index

When a vector space is equipped with a nondegenerate bilinear form (or metric tensor as it is often called in
this context), operations can be defined that convert a contravariant (upper) index into a covariant (lower)
index and vice versa. A metric tensor is a (symmetric) (0, 2)-tensor; it is thus possible to contract an upper
index of a tensor with one of the lower indices of the metric tensor in the product. This produces a new
tensor with the same index structure as the previous tensor, but with lower index generally shown in the
same position of the contracted upper index. This operation is quite graphically known as lowering an
index.

Conversely, the inverse operation can be defined, and is called raising an index. This is equivalent to a
similar contraction on the product with a (2, 0)-tensor. This inverse metric tensor has components that are
the matrix inverse of those of the metric tensor.

Applications

Continuum mechanics

Important examples are provided by continuum mechanics. The stresses inside a solid body or fluid[28] are
described by a tensor field. The stress tensor and strain tensor are both second-order tensor fields, and are
related in a general linear elastic material by a fourth-order elasticity tensor field. In detail, the tensor
quantifying stress in a 3-dimensional solid object has components that can be conveniently represented as a
3 × 3 array. The three faces of a cube-shaped infinitesimal volume segment of the solid are each subject to
some given force. The force's vector components are also three in number. Thus, 3 × 3, or 9 components
are required to describe the stress at this cube-shaped infinitesimal segment. Within the bounds of this solid
is a whole mass of varying stress quantities, each requiring 9 quantities to describe. Thus, a second-order
tensor is needed.

If a particular surface element inside the material is singled out, the material on one side of the surface will
apply a force on the other side. In general, this force will not be orthogonal to the surface, but it will depend
on the orientation of the surface in a linear manner. This is described by a tensor of type (2, 0), in linear
elasticity, or more precisely by a tensor field of type (2, 0), since the stresses may vary from point to point.

Other examples from physics

Common applications include:

Electromagnetic tensor (or Faraday tensor) in electromagnetism

Finite deformation tensors for describing deformations and strain tensor for strain in
continuum mechanics
Permittivity and electric susceptibility are tensors in anisotropic media
Four-tensors in general relativity (e.g. stress–energy tensor), used to represent momentum
fluxes
Spherical tensor operators are the eigenfunctions of the quantum angular momentum
operator in spherical coordinates
Diffusion tensors, the basis of diffusion tensor imaging, represent rates of diffusion in
biological environments
Quantum mechanics and quantum computing utilize tensor products for combination of
quantum states

Computer vision and optics

The concept of a tensor of order two is often conflated with that of a matrix. Tensors of higher order do
however capture ideas important in science and engineering, as has been shown successively in numerous
areas as they develop. This happens, for instance, in the field of computer vision, with the trifocal tensor
generalizing the fundamental matrix.

The field of nonlinear optics studies the changes to material polarization density under extreme electric
fields. The polarization waves generated are related to the generating electric fields through the nonlinear
susceptibility tensor. If the polarization P is not linearly proportional to the electric field E, the medium is
termed nonlinear. To a good approximation (for sufficiently weak fields, assuming no permanent dipole
moments are present), P is given by a Taylor series in E whose coefficients are the nonlinear
susceptibilities:
Here is the linear susceptibility, gives the Pockels effect and second harmonic generation, and
gives the Kerr effect. This expansion shows the way higher-order tensors arise naturally in the subject
matter.

Machine learning

The properties of Tensors (machine learning), especially tensor decomposition, have enabled their use in
machine learning to embed higher dimensional data in artificial neural networks.

Generalizations

Tensor products of vector spaces

The vector spaces of a tensor product need not be the same, and sometimes the elements of such a more
general tensor product are called "tensors". For example, an element of the tensor product space V ⊗ W is
a second-order "tensor" in this more general sense,[29] and an order-d tensor may likewise be defined as an
element of a tensor product of d different vector spaces.[30] A type (n, m) tensor, in the sense defined
previously, is also a tensor of order n + m in this more general sense. The concept of tensor product can be
extended to arbitrary modules over a ring.

Tensors in infinite dimensions

The notion of a tensor can be generalized in a variety of ways to infinite dimensions. One, for instance, is
via the tensor product of Hilbert spaces.[31] Another way of generalizing the idea of tensor, common in
nonlinear analysis, is via the multilinear maps definition where instead of using finite-dimensional vector
spaces and their algebraic duals, one uses infinite-dimensional Banach spaces and their continuous dual.[32]
Tensors thus live naturally on Banach manifolds[33] and Fréchet manifolds.

Tensor densities

Suppose that a homogeneous medium fills R3, so that the density of the medium is described by a single
scalar value ρ in kg⋅m−3. The mass, in kg, of a region Ω is obtained by multiplying ρ by the volume of
the region Ω, or equivalently integrating the constant ρ over the region:

where the Cartesian coordinates x, y, z are measured in m. If the units of length are changed into cm, then
the numerical values of the coordinate functions must be rescaled by a factor of 100:

The numerical value of the density ρ must then also transform by 100 −3 m3/cm3 to compensate, so that
the numerical value of the mass in kg is still given by integral of . Thus (in units
of kg⋅cm−3).
More generally, if the Cartesian coordinates x, y, z undergo a linear transformation, then the numerical
value of the density ρ must change by a factor of the reciprocal of the absolute value of the determinant of
the coordinate transformation, so that the integral remains invariant, by the change of variables formula for
integration. Such a quantity that scales by the reciprocal of the absolute value of the determinant of the
coordinate transition map is called a scalar density. To model a non-constant density, ρ is a function of the
variables x, y, z (a scalar field), and under a curvilinear change of coordinates, it transforms by the
reciprocal of the Jacobian of the coordinate change. For more on the intrinsic meaning, see Density on a
manifold.

A tensor density transforms like a tensor under a coordinate change, except that it in addition picks up a
factor of the absolute value of the determinant of the coordinate transition:[34]

Here w is called the weight. In general, any tensor multiplied by a power of this function or its absolute
value is called a tensor density, or a weighted tensor.[35][36] An example of a tensor density is the current
density of electromagnetism.

Under an affine transformation of the coordinates, a tensor transforms by the linear part of the
transformation itself (or its inverse) on each index. These come from the rational representations of the
general linear group. But this is not quite the most general linear transformation law that such an object may
have: tensor densities are non-rational, but are still semisimple representations. A further class of
transformations come from the logarithmic representation of the general linear group, a reducible but not
semisimple representation,[37] consisting of an (x, y) ∈ R2 with the transformation law

Geometric objects

The transformation law for a tensor behaves as a functor on the category of admissible coordinate systems,
under general linear transformations (or, other transformations within some class, such as local
diffeomorphisms). This makes a tensor a special case of a geometrical object, in the technical sense that it is
a function of the coordinate system transforming functorially under coordinate changes.[38] Examples of
objects obeying more general kinds of transformation laws are jets and, more generally still, natural
bundles.[39][40]

Spinors

When changing from one orthonormal basis (called a frame) to another by a rotation, the components of a
tensor transform by that same rotation. This transformation does not depend on the path taken through the
space of frames. However, the space of frames is not simply connected (see orientation entanglement and
plate trick): there are continuous paths in the space of frames with the same beginning and ending
configurations that are not deformable one into the other. It is possible to attach an additional discrete
invariant to each frame that incorporates this path dependence, and which turns out (locally) to have values
of ±1.[41] A spinor is an object that transforms like a tensor under rotations in the frame, apart from a
possible sign that is determined by the value of this discrete invariant.[42][43]

Succinctly, spinors are elements of the spin representation of the rotation group, while tensors are elements
of its tensor representations. Other classical groups have tensor representations, and so also tensors that are
compatible with the group, but all non-compact classical groups have infinite-dimensional unitary
representations as well.

See also
The dictionary definition of tensor at Wiktionary
Array data type, for tensor storage and manipulation

Foundational
Cartesian tensor
Fibre bundle
Glossary of tensor theory
Multilinear projection
One-form
Tensor product of modules

Applications
Application of tensor theory in engineering
Continuum mechanics
Covariant derivative
Curvature
Diffusion tensor MRI
Einstein field equations
Fluid mechanics
Gravity
Multilinear subspace learning
Riemannian geometry
Structure tensor
Tensor Contraction Engine
Tensor decomposition
Tensor derivative
Tensor software

Explanatory notes
1. The Einstein summation convention, in brief, requires the sum to be taken over all values of
the index whenever the same symbol appears as a subscript and superscript in the same
term. For example, under this convention
2. The double duality isomorphism, for instance, is used to identify V with the double dual
space V∗∗, which consists of multilinear forms of degree one on V∗. It is typical in linear
algebra to identify spaces that are naturally isomorphic, treating them as the same space.
 3. Namely, the norm operation in a vector space.

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General
Bishop, Richard L.; Samuel I. Goldberg (1980) [1968]. Tensor Analysis on Manifolds (https://
books.google.com/books?id=ePFIAwAAQBAJ). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-64039-6.
 Danielson, Donald A. (2003). Vectors and Tensors in Engineering and Physics (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=A9fiXTC3cxsC) (2/e ed.). Westview (Perseus). ISBN 978-0-8133-
4080-7.
Dimitrienko, Yuriy (2002). Tensor Analysis and Nonlinear Tensor Functions (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=7UMYToTiYDsC). Springer. ISBN 978-1-4020-1015-6.
Jeevanjee, Nadir (2011). An Introduction to Tensors and Group Theory for Physicists (https://
www.springer.com/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+(default)/book/978-0-8176-4714-8).
Birkhauser. ISBN 978-0-8176-4714-8.
Lawden, D. F. (2003). Introduction to Tensor Calculus, Relativity and Cosmology (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=rJYoAwAAQBAJ) (3/e ed.). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-42540-5.
Lebedev, Leonid P.; Cloud, Michael J. (2003). Tensor Analysis. World Scientific. ISBN 978-
981-238-360-0.
Lovelock, David; Rund, Hanno (1989) [1975]. Tensors, Differential Forms, and Variational
Principles (https://books.google.com/books?id=Tl3dCgAAQBAJ). Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-
65840-7.
Munkres, James R. (1997). Analysis On Manifolds (https://books.google.com/books?id=tGT6
K6HdFfwC). Avalon. ISBN 978-0-8133-4548-2. Chapter six gives a "from scratch"
introduction to covariant tensors.
Ricci, Gregorio; Levi-Civita, Tullio (March 1900). "Méthodes de calcul différentiel absolu et
leurs applications" (https://zenodo.org/record/1428270). Mathematische Annalen. 54 (1–2):
125–201. doi:10.1007/BF01454201 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01454201).
S2CID 120009332 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:120009332).
Kay, David C (1988-04-01). Schaum's Outline of Tensor Calculus (https://books.google.com/
books?id=6tUU3KruG14C). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-033484-7.
Schutz, Bernard F. (28 January 1980). Geometrical Methods of Mathematical Physics (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=HAPMB2e643kC). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-
0-521-29887-2.
Synge, John Lighton; Schild, Alfred (1969). Tensor Calculus (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=8vlGhlxqZjsC). Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-63612-2.

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Bowen, Ray M.; Wang, C.C. (2006). Vector and Tensor Analysis. Introduction to Vectors and
Tensors. Vol. 2. hdl:1969.1/3609 (https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1%2F3609).
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