Tensor Calculus – How to Tell That the Electromagnetic Field Tensor Transforms as a Tensor?

tensor-calculus

Is any matrix a tensor in special relativity?

My question is inspired by the definition of the electromagnetic field tensor in Carroll's Spacetime and Geometry book. In equation (1.69), he defines a matrix which he says is the (0,2) electromagnetic field tensor.

In section 1.8, he states the Maxwell equations in tensor notation, and additionally states that in this form they manifestly transform as tensors. I assume that this is due to the tensorial nature of the electromagnetic field tensor; however, I don't understand why it is a tensor.

Would we have to prove that the electromagnetic field tensor transforms as a tensor by brute calculation? Alternatively, is there some clever and more obvious shorthand that you could use to come to the same realization?

Best Answer

Strictly speaking, a matrix is not a tensor, it is a representation of a tensor in a particular basis. You can't tell whether a given matrix is a tensor using only its components. You would have to know how it transforms to different reference frames.

For the electromagnetic field tensor, for example, you could write the equations for some physical configuration of electromagnetic fields, and then write the equations that describe the same physical configuration in a different reference frame, and show that applying the corresponding Lorentz transformation twice converts from one to the other.

$$F^{\mu\nu}_\text{frame 2} = [\Lambda(1,2)]_\alpha^\mu [\Lambda(1,2)]_\beta^\nu F^{\alpha\beta}_\text{frame 1}$$

where I've used $\Lambda(1,2)$ to denote the Lorentz transformation that transforms from frame 1 to frame 2. Doing this calculation out in full gets somewhat tedious, which is why many textbooks don't go through it in full detail, they just make it seem plausible. (But at least Einstein had to do it to show that the theory worked this way.)

Anyway, the point is that the tensorial nature of a quantity is really a consequence of the transformation law, not the representation (the matrix).

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