Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-2/6/a/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Paper 2 6 a ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
A pseudotensor has an additional determinant factor under an orthogonal transformation. Thus its rank-three transformation law isThe contracted expression is fully antisymmetric in , so it equals a scalar multiple of . For it is precisely the determinant expansion of , fixing that scalar to . ThereforeThe Levi-Civita symbol consequently has the same numerical entries in every orthonormal frame when interpreted as a pseudotensor. With an ordinary rank-three tensor transformation law alone it would instead acquire a minus sign under an orientation-reversing transformation.
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