Levi-Civita tensor

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The Levi-Civita symbol is used to denote the components of the Levi-Civita tensor, sometimes called the Levi-Civita form, and in n dimensions this tensor is an invariant of the special unitary group SU(n).[1] It flips sign under reflections, and physicists call it a pseudo-tensor.[2] It also is called the alternating tensor[3] or the completely antisymmetric tensor with n indices in n dimensions. The completely antisymmetric tensor with n indices in n-dimensions has only one independent component, and is denoted in two, three and four dimensions as εij, εijk, εijkl.[4] Consequently, in three dimensions the completely antisymmetric tensor with three indices is entirely specified by stating ε123 = εxyz = 1 in Cartesian coordinates.

Notes

  1. Michael T. Vaughn (2007). Introduction to mathematical physics. Wiley-VCH, p. 484. ISBN 3527406271. 
  2. Bjørn Felsager (1998). Geometry, particles, and fields. Springer, p. 358. ISBN 0387982671. 
  3. Vinod K. Sharma (2009). “§9.2 Alternating tensor (or Levi-Civita symbol)”, Matrix Methods and Vector Spaces in Physics. Prentice-Hall of India Pvt.Ltd, p. 370. ISBN 8120338669. 
  4. T. Padmanabhan (2010). Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers. Cambridge University Press, p. 22. ISBN 0521882230.