The term "tidal tensor" typically refers to a mathematical representation that describes the tidal forces exerted by a massive body, like a planet or star, on another body in its vicinity, such as a moon or satellite. Tidal forces arise from the gravitational gradient caused by the mass distribution of the larger body, which leads to deformation of the smaller body.
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The acceleration tidal tensor is for gravitational acceleration . It describes differential acceleration . Some authors instead call the positive Hessian matrix the tidal tensor, reversing this sign convention. For a point mass and the positive potential convention , the tensor is .