Commutator of covariant derivatives

ID: commutator-of-covariant-derivatives

For a torsion-free connection, the commutator of coordinate covariant derivatives vanishes on a scalar field and acts on a vector field through the displayed Riemann curvature tensor. On a covector field it instead gives . The curvature commutator is a tensor derivation, so each index of a general tensor contributes independently with the corresponding sign. Including the lower derivative index in the second covariant derivative is essential for this identity.

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