Is Covariant Derivative Notation Misleading in Vector Calculus?

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on the notation for covariant derivatives in vector calculus, specifically the notation ##\nabla_\mu V^\nu## versus the author's preferred notation ##(\nabla_\mu V)^\nu##. The author argues that the conventional notation obscures the distinction between a vector and its components, leading to confusion. The discussion also touches on the nature of the covariant derivative as a (1, 1) tensor and the implications of using different notations for clarity in mathematical expressions.

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  • #121
cianfa72 said:
Is that correct now ?
Looks good.
 
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  • #122
Orodruin said:
Looks good.
And what was wrong with my derivation? I don't see any difference.
 
  • #123
vanhees71 said:
And what was wrong with my derivation? I don't see any difference.
I never said anything was wrong with it. I complained about #118.
 
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  • #124
Orodruin said:
I never said anything was wrong with it. I complained about #118.
Yep, my fault sorry.
 
  • #125
dextercioby said:
I cannot believe there are 100 posts here about a simple pure ... issue
This, unfortunately, has become a characteristic feature in here.
dextercioby said:
In mathematics ##\nabla_{\mu}V^{\nu}## is ill defined
No, it is not. In mathematics we define things. So, on a generic tensor (density) T_{A} \equiv T^{\rho_{1}\cdots \rho_{r}}_{{}\tau_{1}\cdots \tau_{s}}, I define the operator \nabla_{\mu} by the rule \nabla_{\mu}T_{A} \equiv \partial_{\mu}T_{A} + \Gamma^{\lambda}_{\mu\nu}[T_{A}]^{\nu}{}_{\lambda} , where [T^{\rho_{1} \cdots \rho_{r}}_{{}\tau_{1}\cdots \tau_{s}}]^{\nu}{}_{\lambda} \equiv \sum_{p = 1}^{r} \delta^{\rho_{p}}_{\lambda}T^{\rho_{1}\cdots \rho_{p-1}\nu \rho_{p+1}\cdots \rho_{r}}_{{}{}{}{}\tau_{1} \cdots \tau_{s}} - \sum_{q = 1}^{s} \delta^{\nu}_{\tau_{q}}T^{\rho_{1}\cdots \rho_{r}}_{{}\tau_{1}\cdots \tau_{q-1}\lambda \tau_{q+1}\cdots \tau_{s}} - \delta^{\nu}_{\lambda}T_{A} , with last term is absent when T_{A} is not a density.

Remaks: (1) Notice that [T_{A}]^{\nu}{}_{\lambda} \epsilon^{\lambda}{}_{\nu} is nothing but the change of T_{A} under an infinitesimal \mbox{GL}(n) transformation parametrized by \epsilon^{\lambda}{}_{\nu}. So, for any object \Psi, we define [\Psi]^{\nu}{}_{\lambda} by its infinitesimal transformation under the general linear group \mbox{GL}(n).

(2) You can show that the (above defined) operator \nabla_{\mu} satisfies the Leibniz rule.
 
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