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

A pseudotensor has an additional determinant factor under an orthogonal transformation. Thus its rank-three transformation law is
The 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 . Therefore
The 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.

New to topics? Read the docs here!