Symmetric rank-2 tensor, relabelling of indices? (4-vectors)

rwooduk
Messages
757
Reaction score
59

Homework Statement


k9Aph2H.jpg


Homework Equations


Relabelling of indeces, 4-vector notation

The Attempt at a Solution


The forth line where I've circled one of the components in red, I am unsure why you can simply let ν=μ and μ=v for the second part of the line only then relate it to the first part and add them. If you are chosing "dummy indices" as suggested in the image then wouldn't they have to be independant of the first parts indices?

I'm unsure of what is going on here, any ideas would be really helpful, thanks.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You are familiar with the summation convention, correct. Just write out the sums both ways, and you will see that they are identical.

Chet
 
Chestermiller said:
You are familiar with the summation convention, correct. Just write out the sums both ways, and you will see that they are identical.

Chet

hmm, i think I see what you are getting at, it's because it is symmetric.

when you say write out the sums you are saying if i write out the summation over v=0,1,2,3 and μ=0,1,2,3?

thanks for the reply
 
Yes. With repeated dumny indices, it doesn't matter which letter of the alphabet you use, as long as it's not the same letter as another repeated index.

Chet
 
  • Like
Likes rwooduk
Chestermiller said:
Yes. With repeated dumny indices, it doesn't matter which letter of the alphabet you use, as long as it's not the same letter as another repeated index.

Chet

Yes, I got them to equal, that's very helpful, thank you!
 
Hello everyone, I’m considering a point charge q that oscillates harmonically about the origin along the z-axis, e.g. $$z_{q}(t)= A\sin(wt)$$ In a strongly simplified / quasi-instantaneous approximation I ignore retardation and take the electric field at the position ##r=(x,y,z)## simply to be the “Coulomb field at the charge’s instantaneous position”: $$E(r,t)=\frac{q}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{r-r_{q}(t)}{||r-r_{q}(t)||^{3}}$$ with $$r_{q}(t)=(0,0,z_{q}(t))$$ (I’m aware this isn’t...
Hi, I had an exam and I completely messed up a problem. Especially one part which was necessary for the rest of the problem. Basically, I have a wormhole metric: $$(ds)^2 = -(dt)^2 + (dr)^2 + (r^2 + b^2)( (d\theta)^2 + sin^2 \theta (d\phi)^2 )$$ Where ##b=1## with an orbit only in the equatorial plane. We also know from the question that the orbit must satisfy this relationship: $$\varepsilon = \frac{1}{2} (\frac{dr}{d\tau})^2 + V_{eff}(r)$$ Ultimately, I was tasked to find the initial...
Back
Top