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In three-dimensional Euclidean space, contracting an antisymmetric second-rank tensor with the Levi-Civita symbol gives an axial vector. The epsilon contraction identity proves the inverse formula: $\frac{1}{2}{ϵ}_{kij}{ϵ}_{klm}{A}_{lm}=\frac{1}{2}(A_{ij}-A_{ji})=A_{ij}$. With this index convention,Thus $A$ is minus the cross-product matrix for $a\times x$. Proper rotations transform $a$ as a vector; an orientation-reversing orthogonal change adds a determinant sign. Stating the index convention prevents a sign ambiguity when converting an antisymmetric tensor into a cross-product operator.

For a bounded sufficiently regular region, the divergence theorem applied to the vector field $x_i{e}_j$ gives the displayed identity. Contracting with constant vectors gives ${\int }_{\partial \Omega }(b\cdot x)(c\cdot n)dS=|\Omega |b\cdot c$. Contracting with the Kronecker delta or the Levi-Civita symbol respectively gives $\int x\cdot ndS=3|\Omega |$ and $\int x\times ndS=0$ in three dimensions.

With Minkowski metric signature $+---$ and $\mathrm{tr}({\gamma }^{\mu }{\gamma }^{\nu }{\gamma }^{\rho }{\gamma }^{\sigma }{\gamma }_5)=4i{ϵ}^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }$, define $H^{\mu \nu }(a,b)=a^{\mu }{b}^{\nu }+a^{\nu }{b}^{\mu }-g^{\mu \nu }a\cdot b+i{ϵ}^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }{a}_{\rho }{b}_{\sigma }$. Then $\mathrm{tr}[/a{\gamma }^{\mu }(1-{\gamma }_5)/b{\gamma }^{\nu }(1-{\gamma }_5)]=8H^{\mu \nu }(a,b)$. The symmetric-tensor contraction gives twice the sum of the two possible dot-product pairings; the Levi-Civita symbol contraction, including the two factors of $i$, gives twice their difference. Their sum is the displayed identity, explaining the single pairing in left-chiral weak rates.

The color-contracted density ${ϵ}^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }{F}_{\mu \nu }^a{F}_{\rho \sigma }^a$ is even under charge conjugation and odd under parity. In matrix form the two charge-conjugation signs cancel and transposition leaves the trace of the product unchanged. Parity contributes its orientation-reversing determinant to the four-index Levi-Civita symbol. Thus the density is CP odd. A generic fixed coefficient violates CP symmetry; being a local total derivative does not eliminate effects from nontrivial gauge topology.

The cross product of two cross products sharing their first vector is parallel to that vector, with scalar factor equal to the scalar triple product. In suffix notation, use ${ϵ}_{ijk}{ϵ}_{kpq}={\delta }_{ip}{\delta }_{jq}-{\delta }_{iq}{\delta }_{jp}$. The component of the double cross product becomes $A_i{ϵ}_{q\ell m}{C}_q{A}_{\ell }{B}_m-C_i{ϵ}_{p\ell m}{A}_p{A}_{\ell }{B}_m$. The second term vanishes by antisymmetry of the Levi-Civita symbol; the first equals $A_i(A\cdot (B\times C))$, proving the identity even when the vectors are dependent.

For a twice continuously differentiable function, the curl of its gradient vanishes. In components, ${ϵ}_{ijk}{\partial }_j{\partial }_{k}f=0$ because the second derivatives are symmetric in $j,k$ while the Levi-Civita symbol is antisymmetric. Thus adding a gradient to a vector potential preserves the represented curl. No topological assumption is needed for this identity, unlike the converse assertion that every curl-free vector field has a global potential.

A correlated pair of quarks. Its color, flavor, spin and orbital states are separate degrees of freedom and must collectively satisfy Fermi statistics. In flavor SU(3), the antisymmetric pair space is ${\Lambda }^{2}3\cong \overline{3}$; contraction with the invariant Levi-Civita symbol realizes the isomorphism. The antisymmetric $ud$ flavor pair is an isospin singlet with flavor hypercharge $2/3$. Combining two such flavor-antitriplet pairs with a strange antiquark permits the highest weight of the pentaquark antidecuplet; this flavor construction does not itself establish a bound state.

The R-parity violation vertices from $LQD$ and $UDD$ can both contain the same down-type squark. Write its linear couplings as $-\tilde{d}A-{\tilde{d}}^{\ast }{A}^{†}$ and its mass term as $-M^2|\tilde{d}{|}^2$. Eliminating it gives $A^{†}A/M^2$. The cross term is $({\lambda }^{\prime }{\lambda }^{\prime \prime \ast }/M^2)(\nu d_L-e{u}_L)(u^{c†}{d}^{c†})+h.c.$, with the color Levi-Civita symbol contracting the three quarks. It changes baryon number and lepton number together and supplies the dimension-six proton-decay operator for $p\to e^{+}{\pi }^0$. The two down-flavor indices in $UDD$ must differ, so strange- or bottom-squark exchange is allowed but identical down flavors vanish.

For a slowly evolving circular binary star with separation $a$, reduced mass $\mu$ and orbital angular frequency $\Omega$, the leading gravitational wave losses satisfy $\dot{E}=\Omega \dot{J}$. One direct check uses the standard quadrupole angular-momentum loss lawwhere $Q$ is the mass quadrupole moment and ${ϵ}_{ijk}$ is the Levi-Civita symbol. For $\mathbf{r}=a(\cos \Omega t,\sin \Omega t,0)$, put $A=\mu a^2$; then $Q_{xx}=A(1/6+\cos (2\Omega t)/2)$, $Q_{yy}=A(1/6-\cos (2\Omega t)/2)$, $Q_{xy}=A\sin (2\Omega t)/2$, and $Q_{zz}=-A/3$. Substitution gives ${\dot{J}}_z=-32G{A}^2{\Omega }^5/(5c^5)$ and the quadrupole formula gives $\dot{E}=-32G{A}^2{\Omega }^6/(5c^5)$. Their ratio proves the balance relation. The same relation follows from the rotating wave's angular harmonic number two and frequency $2\Omega$. The additional angular-momentum flux law, not the energy flux alone, is needed to justify preservation of secular circularity.

For the current with $(1-{\gamma }^5)$ rather than $P_L$, the spin-summed symmetric leptonic tensor is $8(q_{1\mu }{q}_{2\nu }+q_{1\nu }{q}_{2\mu }-g_{\mu \nu }{q}_1\cdot q_2)$. Integrating the standard two-body Lorentz-invariant phase space of two massless particles givesIts antisymmetric Levi-Civita symbol term integrates to zero. The normalization changes by a factor of four if the current uses $P_L$ instead. The result separates the leptonic integration from hadronic pseudoscalar-to-pseudoscalar form factors in a three-body decay rate.

Contract an isotropic tensor with the Kronecker delta or the Levi-Civita symbol, using invariance under proper rotations. The three displayed contractions have ranks one, two and three. The only isotropic vector is zero; an isotropic second-rank tensor is a scalar delta, and an isotropic third-rank tensor is a scalar epsilon. For $T_{ijkl}=\alpha {\delta }_{ij}{\delta }_{kl}+\beta {\delta }_{ik}{\delta }_{jl}+\gamma {\delta }_{il}{\delta }_{jk}$, direct contraction gives $\mu =3\alpha +\beta +\gamma$ and $\nu =\beta -\gamma$.

Under proper rotations a third-rank isotropic tensor is proportional to the Levi-Civita symbol. Its contraction with a field vector is antisymmetric in the two stress indices. A physical symmetric stress therefore vanishes in this linear constitutive model. Under the full orthogonal group an ordinary isotropic third-rank tensor is already zero; the orientation-sensitive Levi-Civita tensor requires the usual pseudotensor distinction.

In three-dimensional Euclidean space, a rank-three tensor invariant under every proper rotation is a scalar multiple of the Levi-Civita symbol. The distinction between proper rotations and all orthogonal transformations matters: $R_{ia}{R}_{jb}{R}_{kc}{ϵ}_{abc}=(\det R){ϵ}_{ijk}$. A polar tensor of odd rank invariant under every orthogonal transformation must vanish, since the transformation $R=-I$ changes its sign. A nonzero invariant rank-three object under reflections is instead a pseudotensor, whose transformation law includes the extra determinant factor.

A rank-three Cartesian tensor invariant under every proper rotation matrix in three dimensions is a multiple of the Levi-Civita symbol. Half-turns about coordinate axes force every nonzero component to contain each coordinate label once, and quarter-turns make these components alternating. Conversely, the determinant formula $R_{ia}{R}_{jb}{R}_{kc}{ϵ}_{abc}=(\det R){ϵ}_{ijk}$ proves invariance when $\det R=1$. Requiring invariance under reflections as an ordinary tensor forces $b=0$; invariance under proper rotations alone permits nonzero $b$.

For a smooth map $u:{\mathbb{R}}^3\to {\mathbb{R}}^3$, set $V_i={ϵ}_{ijk}{ϵ}_{abc}({\partial }_j{u}_a)({\partial }_k{u}_b)u_c/6$. In Einstein summation convention, applying the product rule leaves only the term differentiating $u_c$: the terms with second derivatives cancel against antisymmetry. The remaining Levi-Civita symbol contraction is $\det Du$, so $\nabla \cdot V=J[u]$. Equivalently this vector field is one third of the cofactor matrix transposed, applied to $u$.

On an oriented $d$-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold, the metric volume tensor is the totally antisymmetric tensor with ${ϵ}_{1\dots d}=\sqrt{|\det g|}$ in positively oriented coordinates. It supplies the components of the volume form. It differs from the coordinate Levi-Civita symbol, whose entries are just $0,1,-1$. Raising indices with a Lorentzian metric can change signs; the metric, dimension and orientation must be specified.

For indices in $\{1,\dots ,n\}$, this Levi-Civita symbol is zero when any indices repeat, and otherwise is the sign of a permutation taking $(1,\dots ,n)$ to $(i_1,\dots ,i_n)$. Thus ${ϵ}_{1\cdots n}=1$ and exchanging any two index slots changes the sign. It expresses a determinant as $\det M={ϵ}_{i_1\cdots i_n}{M}_{i_1,1}\cdots M_{i_n,n}$ with repeated indices summed. Exactly $n!$ components are nonzero, so $\sum {ϵ}_{i_1\cdots i_n}^2=n!$.

A parity-odd scalar interaction is rotationally invariant but changes sign under spatial reflection. It must contain a pseudoscalar contraction, such as a Levi-Civita symbol contracted with three spatial gradients.

For dimension-six operators of a real scalar field, let $n$ count fields and $r$ count partial derivatives. Mass dimension gives $n+r=6$. Lorentz invariance requires even $r$. Discard derivatives acting on the entire expression, but do not yet identify different expressions by integration by parts. A complete list of seven representatives isFor $(n,r)=(6,0)$ there is one choice; for $(4,2)$ the derivative distribution is either $2$ or $1+1$; for $(2,4)$ it is $4$, $3+1$, or $2+2$, the last allowing two distinct metric contractions. Commuting partial derivatives identifies alternative orderings. Contractions with a Levi-Civita symbol vanish because an antisymmetric index pair necessarily contracts symmetric derivatives. The remaining case $(0,6)$ gives no field-dependent expression. No independent odd-$r$ Lorentz scalar exists.

The source's seven means this unreduced list. If “ignoring total derivative operators” were interpreted as already taking the full quotient by total derivatives, seven would be incorrect: the next part gives three representatives of that quotient. Dimensionful factors multiplying lower-dimensional terms do not count as new canonical-dimension-six field monomials.

Write $e_{xx}=u_{x,x}$, $e_{yy}=u_{y,y}$ and $2e_{xy}=u_{x,y}+u_{y,x}$. Differentiating twice and cancelling the mixed partial derivatives givesA convenient set of six three-dimensional Saint-Venant compatibility equations isThey follow by inserting $e_{ij}=(u_{i,j}+u_{j,i})/2$ and commuting derivatives. They form the six symmetric components of the incompatibility tensor $C_{ij}={ϵ}_{ik\ell }{ϵ}_{jmn}{e}_{\ell n,km}$, up to the indicated signs and permutation of components.

They obey the three differential identities ${\partial }_i{C}_{ij}=0$, because a symmetric pair of derivatives contracts with an antisymmetric Levi-Civita symbol. Thus there are three independent differential constraints, represented symmetrically by six component equations; they are not six unrelated constraints on the six strain functions. For example, at a nonzero wavevector directed along the third axis, compatibility imposes $e_{11}=e_{22}=e_{12}=0$ while $e_{13},e_{23},e_{33}$ can arise from the three displacement components. This confirms rank three. One cannot simply discard the same arbitrary three component equations in every direction; their independence is differential, with the stated identities. On a simply connected domain these are the local Saint-Venant compatibility equations for strain to be a symmetric displacement gradient, while domains that are multiply connected regions require global closure conditions as in the screw example. This is Saint-Venant strain compatibility and differential identities.