Covariant wave operator ($\square ={\nabla }_a{\nabla }^a$)

On a scalar, the covariant wave operator is $\square \varphi =|g{|}^{-1/2}{\partial }_a(|g{|}^{1/2}{g}^{ab}{\partial }_b\varphi )$. For the metric signature $(-+++)$ it has the flat-space form $-{\partial }_t^2+{\nabla }^2$. This divergence expression is convenient for separation of variables and for integrating the Klein-Gordon equation by parts.