Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / ia / Paper 3 / 12A (Vector Calculus)

Let a change of orthonormal coordinates be represented by a rotation matrix $R$. Since both angular momentum and angular velocity are vectors,Using $L_i=I_{ij}{\omega }_j$ in both frames givesfor every vector $\mathbf{\omega }$. Multiplication by $R^{-1}=R^T$ yieldswhich is exactly the transformation law for a rank-two tensor. Thus $I_{ij}$ is a rank-two tensor.

Put $\mathbf{r}=\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{a}$. The vector triple product givesThereforeAt the centre of mass,Expanding the first formula, the terms linear in $x_i$ vanish because the centre of mass is the origin, while $\rho {\int }_{B}dV=M$. Hence the parallel axis theorem in tensor form is

Reflection symmetry of the cube in each coordinate plane makes every off-diagonal integralvanish because its integrand is odd in one coordinate. Permuting the three coordinate axes leaves the cube unchanged, so its three diagonal moments are equal. Thus its inertia tensor at the centre has the isotropic form

Forpart (a) and $\lambda =M{\ell }^2/6$ giveThe displayed symmetric matrix has orthogonal eigenvectorswith corresponding eigenvaluesFor a unit angular velocity, $|\mathbf{L}|=|I\mathbf{\omega }|$ is minimized and maximized along eigenvectors for the smallest and largest eigenvalues. Their ratio is