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In mathematics and physics, the Christoffel symbols are an array of numbers describing a metric connection. [1] The metric connection is a specialization of the affine connection to surfaces or other manifolds endowed with a metric , allowing distances to be measured on that surface.
The Levi-Civita connection is named after Tullio Levi-Civita, although originally "discovered" by Elwin Bruno Christoffel.Levi-Civita, [1] along with Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, used Christoffel's symbols [2] to define the notion of parallel transport and explore the relationship of parallel transport with the curvature, thus developing the modern notion of holonomy.
Christoffel symbols satisfy the symmetry relations = or, respectively, =, the second of which is equivalent to the torsion-freeness of the Levi-Civita connection. The contracting relations on the Christoffel symbols are given by
[citation needed] Correction terms were introduced by Elwin Bruno Christoffel (following ideas of Bernhard Riemann) in the 1870s so that the (corrected) derivative of one vector field along another transformed covariantly under coordinate transformations — these correction terms subsequently came to be known as Christoffel symbols.
In two dimensions, the Levi-Civita symbol is defined by: = {+ (,) = (,) (,) = (,) = The values can be arranged into a 2 × 2 antisymmetric matrix: = (). Use of the two-dimensional symbol is common in condensed matter, and in certain specialized high-energy topics like supersymmetry [1] and twistor theory, [2] where it appears in the context of 2-spinors.
Here the proof is first given in the language of coordinates and Christoffel symbols, and then in the coordinate-free language of covariant derivatives. Regardless of the presentation, the idea is to use the metric-compatibility and torsion-freeness conditions to obtain a direct formula for any connection that is both metric-compatible and ...
In mathematics and physics, the Christoffel symbols are an array of numbers describing a metric connection. -ref- See, for instance, (Spivak 1999) and (Choquet-Bruhat & DeWitt-Morette 1977)-/ref- The metric connection is a specialization of the affine connection to surfaces or other manifolds endowed with a metric, allowing distances to be ...
where the coordinates x a (s) are regarded as the coordinates of a curve γ(s) in and are the Christoffel symbols. The Christoffel symbols are functions of the metric and are given by: Γ b c a = 1 2 g a d ( g c d , b + g b d , c − g b c , d ) {\displaystyle \Gamma _{bc}^{a}={\frac {1}{2}}g^{ad}\left(g_{cd,b}+g_{bd,c}-g_{bc,d}\right)}