Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/paper-2/6/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2025 Paper 2 6 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Take the trace first: the antisymmetric tensor has zero diagonal and is traceless, so . Taking symmetric and antisymmetric parts then gives the scalar, symmetric-traceless and axial tensor decomposition:The Kronecker delta satisfies , which verifies . Substitution verifies the original decomposition and also proves its uniqueness.
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