Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / Paper 2 / 6 / i / Solution

For a Cartesian tensor under a proper orthogonal change $R$, the rank-$n$ law is $T_{i_1\cdots i_n}^{\prime }=R_{i_1{j}_1}\cdots R_{i_n{j}_n}{T}_{j_1\cdots j_n}$, with repeated indices summed. An isotropic tensor has $T^{\prime }=T$ for every such rotation.

For rank two, $T=RT{R}^T$. A half-turn about a coordinate axis, obtained by applying a quarter-turn twice, reverses each off-diagonal component with exactly one index on that axis. Invariance forces every off-diagonal entry to vanish. A quarter-turn about the third axis exchanges $T_{11}$ and $T_{22}$; quarter-turns about the other axes equate them with $T_{33}$. Thus the isotropic second-rank tensor isConversely $R(\lambda I)R^T=\lambda I$, proving sufficiency.