Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 3 12A c iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
True. Since and are antisymmetric, the matrix is antisymmetric. Invariance of contractions with every antisymmetric second-rank tensor gives for every antisymmetric test matrix . Such a matrix can be freely prescribed in one basis and then transformed to define a valid test tensor. Choose in that basis. Thenso and . Together with the given antisymmetry, this proves that is an antisymmetric second-rank tensor. The antisymmetric contraction test for an antisymmetric tensor works because the Frobenius inner product is nondegenerate on the antisymmetric subspace.