A Infinitesimal Coordinate Transformation and Lie Derivative

[Baela]

TL;DR Summary

Problem in attempt to express the variation of a vector $U^\mu(x)$ under infinitesimal coordinate transformation, as a Lie derivative $\mathcal{L}_\xi U^\mu$

I need to prove that under an infinitesimal coordinate transformation $x^{'\mu}=x^\mu-\xi^\mu(x)$, the variation of a vector $U^\mu(x)$ is $$\delta U^\mu(x)=U^{'\mu}(x)-U^\mu(x)=\mathcal{L}_\xi U^\mu$$ where $\mathcal{L}_\xi U^\mu$ is the Lie derivative of $U^\mu$ wrt the vector $\xi^\nu$.

I have performed the following steps and have a question in the final result.

By general coordinate transformation rule we know that

\begin{align}
& U^{'\mu}(x')=\frac{\partial x^{'\mu}}{\partial x^\nu} U^\nu(x) \\
\Rightarrow\,\, &U^{'\mu}(x^\nu-\xi^\nu(x))=\Big[\frac{\partial x^\mu}{\partial x^\nu}-\frac{\partial \xi^\mu(x)}{\partial x^\nu}\Big]U^\nu(x)\\
\Rightarrow\,\, &U^{'\mu}(x^\nu)-\xi^\nu(x)\frac{\partial U^{'\mu}(x)}{\partial x^\nu}=\delta^\mu_\nu U^\nu(x)-\partial_\nu\xi^\mu(x)U^\nu(x)\quad \text{(Taylor expansion upto first order in}\,\, \xi^\nu\, \text{on LHS)} \\
\Rightarrow\,\, &U^{'\mu}(x)-U^\mu(x)=\xi^\nu(x)\partial_\nu U^{'\mu}(x)-\partial_\nu\xi^\mu(x)U^\nu(x)
\end{align}

The final expression on the RHS is $$\xi^\nu(x)\partial_\nu U^{'\mu}(x)-\partial_\nu\xi^\mu(x)U^\nu(x)$$ but the expression for $\mathcal{L}_\xi U^\mu$ is $$\mathcal{L}_\xi U^\mu=\xi^\nu(x)\partial_\nu U^{\mu}(x)-\partial_\nu\xi^\mu(x)U^\nu(x).$$ Why this discrepancy? What's the resolution?

 

[pasmith]

The difference between \xi^{\nu}\partial_\nu U^{\mu} and \xi^{\nu}\partial_\nu U'^{\mu} is second order in \xi; for an infinitesimal change such higher order terms are neglected.

EDIT: Rather than expanding U&#039; about x, expand it about x&#039;. Then <br /> \begin{split}<br /> U&#039;^\mu(x) &amp;= U&#039;^\mu(x&#039; + \xi) \\<br /> &amp;= U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + \xi^\nu \partial&#039;_\nu U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + O(\xi^2)\\<br /> &amp;= U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + \xi^\nu (\partial&#039;_\nu x^\lambda) \partial_\lambda U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + O(\xi^2)\\<br /> &amp;= U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + \xi^\nu \left(\delta_\nu^\lambda + \partial&#039;_\nu \xi^\lambda \right) \partial_\lambda U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + O(\xi^2) \\<br /> &amp;= U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + \xi^\nu \partial_\nu U&#039;^\mu(x&#039;) + O(\xi^2)<br /> \end{split} and now substitute for U&#039;(x&#039;) to obtain \begin{split}<br /> U&#039;^\mu(x) &amp;= U^\mu(x) - U^\nu(x)\partial_\nu\xi^\mu + \xi^\nu \partial_\nu \left( <br /> U^\mu(x) - U^\lambda(x)\partial_\lambda\xi^\mu <br /> \right) + O(\xi^2) \\<br /> &amp;= U^\mu(x) - U^\nu(x)\partial_\nu\xi^\mu + \xi^\nu \partial_\nu U^\mu(x) + O(\xi^2)<br /> \end{split} as required.