The Levi-Civita tensor

October 25, 2012

In 3-dimensions, we dene the Levi-Civita tensor, ijk , to be totally antisymmetric, so we get a minus sign under interchange of any pair of indices. We work throughout in Cartesian coordinate. This means that most of the 27 components are zero, since, for example, 212 = 212 if we imagine interchanging the two 2s. This means that the only nonzero components are the ones for which i, j and k all take dierent value. There are only six of these, and all of their values are determined once we choose any one of them. Dene 123 1 Then by antisymmetry it follows that 123 132 = = 231 = 312 = +1 213 = 321 = 1

All other components are zero. Using ijk we can write index expressions for the cross product and curl. The ith component of the cross product is given by [u v]i = ijk uj vk as we check by simply writing out the sums for each value of i, [u v]1 = = = [u v]2 = = = [u v]3 = = 1jk uj vk 123 u2 v3 + 132 u3 v2 + (all other terms are zero) u2 v3 u3 v2 2jk uj vk 231 u3 v1 + 213 u1 v3 u3 v1 u1 v3 3jk uj vk u1 v2 u2 v1
xi ,

We get the curl simply by replacing ui by i =

[ v]i = ijk j vk If we sum these expressions with basis vectors ei , where e1 = i, e2 = j, e3 = k, we may write these as vectors: uv v = = = 1 [u v]i ei ijk uj vk ei ijk ei j vk

There are useful identities involving pairs of Levi-Civita tensors. The most general is ijk lmn = il jm kn + im jn kl + in jl km il jn km in jm kl im jl kn To check this, rst notice that the right side is antisymmetric in i, j, k and antisymmetric in l, m, n. For example, if we interchange i and j , we get jik lmn = jl im kn + jm in kl + jn il km jl in km jn im kl jm il kn

Now interchange the rst pair of Kronecker deltas in each term, to get i, j, k in the original order, then rearrange terms, then pull out an overall sign, jik lmn = im jl kn + in jm kl + il jn km in jl km im jn kl il jm kn = il jm kn im jn kl in jl km + il jn km + in jm kl + im jl kn = (il jm kn + im jn kl + in jl km il jn km in jm kl im jl kn ) = ijk lmn Total antisymmetry means that if we know one component, the others are all determined uniquely. Therefore, set i = l = 1, j = m = 2, k = n = 3, to see that 123 123 = = 11 22 33 + 12 23 31 + 13 21 32 11 23 32 13 22 31 12 21 33 1

= 11 22 33

Check one more case. Let i = 1, j = 2, k = 3 again, but take l = 3, m = 2, n = 1. Then we have 123 321 = 13 22 31 + 12 21 33 + 11 23 32 13 21 32 11 22 33 12 23 31 = 11 22 33 = 1 as expected. We get a second identity by setting n = k and summing, ijk lmk = = = il jm kk + im jk kl + ik jl km il jk km ik jm kl im jl kk 3il jm + im jl + im jl il jm il jm 3im jl (3 1 1) il jm (3 1 1) im jl

= il jm im jl so we have a much simpler, and very useful, relation ijk lmk = il jm im jl

A second sum gives another identity. Setting m = j and summing again, ijk ljk = = = il mm im ml 3il il 2il

Setting the last two indices equal and summing provides a check on our normalization, ijk ijk = 2ii = 6

This is correct, since there are only six nonzero components and we are summing their squares. 2

Collecting these results, ijk lmn ijk lmk ijk ljk ijk ijk = il jm kn + im jn kl + in jl km il jn km in jm kl im jl kn = il jm im jl = = 2il 6

Now we use these properties to prove some vector identities. First, consider the triple product, u (v w) = ui [v w]i = ui ijk vj wk = ijk ui vj wk Because ijk = kij = jki , we may write this in two other ways, u (v w ) = ijk ui vj wk = kij ui vj wk = wk kij ui vj = wi [u v]i = w (u v) and u (v w) = = = = so that we have established u (v w) = w (u v) = v (w u) and we get the negative permutations by interchanging the order of the vectors in the cross products. Next, consider a double cross product: [u (v w)]i = = = = = = = = ijk uj [v w]k ijk uj klm vl wm ijk klm uj vl wm ijk lmk uj vl wm (il jm im jl ) uj vl wm il jm uj vl wm im jl uj vl wm (il vl ) (jm uj wm ) (jl uj vl ) (im wm ) vi (um wm ) (uj vj ) wi ijk ui vj wk jki ui vj wk vj [w u]j v (w u)

Returning to vector notation, this is the BAC CAB rule, u (v w ) Finally, look at the curl of a cross product, [ (v w)]i = ijk j [v w]k 3 = (u w) v (u v) w

= ijk j (klm vl wm ) = ijk klm ((j vl ) wm + vl j wm ) = = (il jm im jl ) ((j vl ) wm + vl j wm ) (m vi ) wm + vi m wm (j vj ) wi vj j wi = il jm ((j vl ) wm + vl j wm ) im jl ((j vl ) wm + vl j wm )

Restoring the vector notation, we have (v w) = (w ) v + ( w) v ( v) w (v ) w If you doubt the advantages here, try to prove these identities by explicitly writing out all of the components!