Paper 3, Section II, A

Vector Calculus | Part IA, 2015

(a) Let tijt_{i j} be a rank 2 tensor whose components are invariant under rotations through an angle π\pi about each of the three coordinate axes. Show that tijt_{i j} is diagonal.

(b) An array of numbers aija_{i j} is given in one orthonormal basis as δij+ϵ1ij\delta_{i j}+\epsilon_{1 i j} and in another rotated basis as δij\delta_{i j}. By using the invariance of the determinant of any rank 2 tensor, or otherwise, prove that aija_{i j} is not a tensor.

(c) Let aija_{i j} be an array of numbers and bijb_{i j} a tensor. Determine whether the following statements are true or false. Justify your answers.

(i) If aijbija_{i j} b_{i j} is a scalar for any rank 2 tensor bijb_{i j}, then aija_{i j} is a rank 2 tensor.

(ii) If aijbija_{i j} b_{i j} is a scalar for any symmetric rank 2 tensor bijb_{i j}, then aija_{i j} is a rank 2 tensor.

(iii) If aija_{i j} is antisymmetric and aijbija_{i j} b_{i j} is a scalar for any symmetric rank 2 tensor bijb_{i j}, then aija_{i j} is an antisymmetric rank 2 tensor.

(iv) If aija_{i j} is antisymmetric and aijbija_{i j} b_{i j} is a scalar for any antisymmetric rank 2 tensor bijb_{i j}, then aija_{i j} is an antisymmetric rank 2 tensor.

Typos? Please submit corrections to this page on GitHub.