Coordinate systems and derivative operators

coordinate systemsderivativesdifferential-geometrygeneral-relativitytensors

Let $\psi$ be a coordinate system and let $\{\partial / \partial x^{\mu}\}$ and $dx^{\mu}$ be the associated coordinate bases. For any smooth tensor field $T^{a_1 \dots a_k}_{b_1 \dots b_l}$ we take its components $T^{\mu_1 \dots \mu_k}_{\nu_1 \dots \nu_l}$ in this coordinate basis and define $\partial_c T^{a_1 \dots a_k}_{b_1 \dots b_l}$ to be the tensor whose components in this coordinate basis are the partial derivatives $\partial (T^{a_1 \dots a_k}_{b_1 \dots b_l})/\partial x^{\sigma}$.

Why under a different coordinate system $\psi '$ would yield a different derivative operator?

Best Answer

Let $\{\partial/\partial y^\nu\}$ be another coordinate frame. Denote by $\widetilde{T}$ (with the indices) the components of the tensor field $T$ with respect to this coordinate system. Basically, you're asking if given an index $\sigma$, would we have $$\frac{\partial (T^{a_1\cdots a_k}_{b_1\cdots b_\ell})}{\partial x^\sigma}= \frac{\partial (\widetilde{T}^{a_1\cdots a_k}_{b_1\cdots b_\ell})}{\partial y^\sigma}?$$The general answer is no, in view of the transformation law for tensors, which say that the above terms differ by something generated by the product rule and the derivatives of the coordinate change. Just to see how bad is the error, take a $(1,1)$-tensor: $$\begin{align} \frac{\partial \widetilde{T}^a_b}{\partial y^\sigma} &= \frac{\partial}{\partial y^\sigma}\left(\sum_{i,j} \frac{\partial y^a}{\partial x^i} \frac{\partial x^j}{\partial y^b} T^i_j \right) \\ &= \sum_k \frac{\partial x^k}{\partial y^\sigma} \frac{\partial}{\partial x^k}\left(\sum_{i,j} \frac{\partial y^a}{\partial x^i} \frac{\partial x^j}{\partial y^b} T^i_j \right) \\ &= \sum_{i,j,k} \frac{\partial x^k}{\partial y^\sigma}\frac{\partial y^a}{\partial x^i}\frac{\partial x^j}{\partial y^b} {\color{blue}{\frac{\partial T^i_j}{\partial x^k}}} + \mbox{even more trash}.\end{align}$$

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