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Contents
Articles
Vector calculus Gradient Divergence Curl (mathematics) Laplace operator Gradient theorem Green's theorem Stokes' theorem Divergence theorem Green's function 1 5 11 14 22 27 28 31 37 42

References
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Vector calculus

Vector calculus
Vector calculus (or vector analysis) is a branch of mathematics concerned with differentiation and integration of vector fields, primarily in 3 dimensional Euclidean space The term "vector calculus" is sometimes used as a synonym for the broader subject of multivariable calculus, which includes vector calculus as well as partial differentiation and multiple integration. Vector calculus plays an important role in differential geometry and in the study of partial differential equations. It is used extensively in physics and engineering, especially in the description of electromagnetic fields, gravitational fields and fluid flow. Vector calculus was developed from quaternion analysis by J. Willard Gibbs and Oliver Heaviside near the end of the 19th century, and most of the notation and terminology was established by Gibbs and Edwin Bidwell Wilson in their 1901 book, Vector Analysis. In the traditional form using cross products, vector calculus does not generalize to higher dimensions, while the alternative approach of geometric algebra, which uses exterior products does generalize, as discussed below.

Basic objects
The basic objects in vector calculus are scalar fields (scalar-valued functions) and vector fields (vector-valued functions). These are then combined or transformed under various operations, and integrated. In more advanced treatments, one further distinguishes pseudovector fields and pseudoscalar fields, which are identical to vector fields and scalar fields except that they change sign under an orientation-reversing map: for example, the curl of a vector field is a pseudovector field, and if one reflects a vector field, the curl points in the opposite direction. This distinction is clarified and elaborated in geometric algebra, as described below.

Vector operations
Algebraic operations
The basic algebraic (non-differential) operations in vector calculus are referred to as vector algebra, being defined for a vector space and then globally applied to a vector field, and consist of: scalar multiplication multiplication of a scalar field and a vector field, yielding a vector field: vector addition addition of two vector fields, yielding a vector field: dot product multiplication of two vector fields, yielding a scalar field: cross product multiplication of two vector fields, yielding a vector field: . ; ; ;

There are also two triple products: the scalar triple product and the vector triple product, but these are less used.

Vector calculus

Differential operations
Vector calculus studies various differential operators defined on scalar or vector fields, which are typically expressed in terms of the del operator ( ). The four most important differential operations in vector calculus are:
Operation Gradient Curl Notation Description Measures the rate and direction of change in a scalar field. Measures the tendency to rotate about a point in a vector field. Domain/Range Maps scalar fields to vector fields. Maps vector fields to (pseudo)vector fields. Maps vector fields to scalar fields.

Divergence

Measures the magnitude of a source or sink at a given point in a vector field. A composition of the divergence and gradient operations.

Laplacian

Maps scalar fields to scalar fields.

where the curl and divergence differ because the former uses a cross product and the latter a dot product, and f denotes a scalar field and F denotes a vector field. A quantity called the Jacobian is useful for studying functions when both the domain and range of the function are multivariable, such as a change of variables during integration.

Theorems
Likewise, there are several important theorems related to these operators which generalize the fundamental theorem of calculus to higher dimensions:
Theorem Gradient theorem Green's theorem Statement Description The line integral through a gradient (vector) field equals the difference in its scalar field at the endpoints of the curve L. The integral of the scalar curl of a vector field over some region in the plane equals the line integral of the vector field over the closed curve bounding the region. The integral of the curl of a vector field over a surface in the surface. Divergence theorem The integral of the divergence of a vector field over some solid equals the integral of the flux through the closed surface bounding the solid. equals

Stokes' theorem

the line integral of the vector field over the closed curve bounding

Generalizations
Different 3-manifolds
Vector calculus is initially defined for Euclidean 3-space, which has additional structure beyond simply being a 3-dimensional real vector space, namely: an inner product (the dot product), which gives a notion of length (and hence angle), and an orientation, which gives a notion of left-handed and right-handed. These structures give rise to a volume form, and also the cross product, which is used pervasively in vector calculus. The gradient and divergence only require the inner product, while the curl and the cross product also requires the handedness of the coordinate system to be taken into account (see cross product and handedness for more detail). Vector calculus can be defined on other 3-dimensional real vector spaces if they have an inner product (or more generally a symmetric nondegenerate form) and an orientation; note that this is less data than an isomorphism to Euclidean space, as it does not require a set of coordinates (a frame of reference), which reflects the fact that vector calculus is invariant under rotations (the special orthogonal group SO(3)).

Vector calculus More generally, vector calculus can be defined on any 3-dimensional oriented Riemannian manifold, or more generally pseudo-Riemannian manifold. This structure simply means that the tangent space at each point has an inner product (more generally, a symmetric nondegenerate form) and an orientation, or more globally that there is a symmetric nondegenerate metric tensor and an orientation, and works because vector calculus is defined in terms of tangent vectors at each point.

Other dimensions
Most of the analytic results are easily understood, in a more general form, using the machinery of differential geometry, of which vector calculus forms a subset. Grad and div generalize immediately to other dimensions, as do the gradient theorem, divergence theorem, and Laplacian (yielding harmonic analysis), while curl and cross product do not generalize as directly. From a general point of view, the various fields in (3-dimensional) vector calculus are uniformly seen as being k-vector fields: scalar fields are 0-vector fields, vector fields are 1-vector fields, pseudovector fields are 2-vector fields, and pseudoscalar fields are 3-vector fields. In higher dimensions there are additional types of fields (scalar/vector/pseudovector/pseudoscalar corresponding to 0/1/n1/n dimensions, which is exhaustive in dimension 3), so one cannot only work with (pseudo)scalars and (pseudo)vectors. In any dimension, assuming a nondegenerate form, grad of a scalar function is a vector field, and div of a vector field is a scalar function, but only in dimension 3 and 7[1] (and, trivially, dimension 0) is the curl of a vector field a vector field, and only in 3 or 7 dimensions can a cross product be defined (generalizations in other dimensionalities either require vectors to yield 1 vector, or are alternative Lie algebras, which are more general antisymmetric bilinear products). The generalization of grad and div, and how curl may be generalized is elaborated at Curl: Generalizations; in brief, the curl of a vector field is a bivector field, which may be interpreted as the special orthogonal Lie algebra of infinitesimal rotations; however, this cannot be identified with a vector field because the dimensions differ - there are 3 dimensions of rotations in 3 dimensions, but 6 dimensions of rotations in 4 dimensions (and more generally dimensions of rotations in n dimensions). There are two important alternative generalizations of vector calculus. The first, geometric algebra, uses k-vector fields instead of vector fields (in 3 or fewer dimensions, every k-vector field can be identified with a scalar function or vector field, but this is not true in higher dimensions). This replaces the cross product, which is specific to 3 dimensions, taking in two vector fields and giving as output a vector field, with the exterior product, which exists in all dimensions and takes in two vector fields, giving as output a bivector (2-vector) field. This product yields Clifford algebras as the algebraic structure on vector spaces (with an orientation and nondegenerate form). Geometric algebra is mostly used in generalizations of physics and other applied fields to higher dimensions. The second generalization uses differential forms (k-covector fields) instead of vector fields or k-vector fields, and is widely used in mathematics, particularly in differential geometry, geometric topology, and harmonic analysis, in particular yielding Hodge theory on oriented pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. From this point of view, grad, curl, and div correspond to the differential of 0-forms, 1-forms, and 2-forms, respectively, and the key theorems of vector calculus are all special cases of the general form of Stokes' theorem. From the point of view of both of these generalizations, vector calculus implicitly identifies mathematically distinct objects, which makes the presentation more elegant but the underlying mathematical structure and generalizations less clear. From the point of view of geometric algebra, vector calculus implicitly identifies k-vector fields with vector fields or scalar functions: 0-vectors and 3-vectors with scalars, 1-vectors and 2-vectors with vectors. From the point of view of differential forms, vector calculus implicitly identifies k-forms with scalar fields or vector fields: 0-forms and 3-forms with scalar fields, 1-forms and 2-forms with vector fields. Thus for example the curl naturally takes as input a vector field, but naturally has as output a 2-vector field or 2-form (hence pseudovector field), which is then interpreted as a vector field, rather than directly taking a vector field to a vector field; this is reflected in the curl of a vector field in higher dimensions not having as output a vector field.

Vector calculus

References
Michael J. Crowe (1967). A History of Vector Analysis : The Evolution of the Idea of a Vectorial System. Dover Publications; Reprint edition. ISBN0-486-67910-1. H. M. Schey (2005). Div Grad Curl and all that: An informal text on vector calculus. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN0-393-92516-1. J.E. Marsden (1976). Vector Calculus. W. H. Freeman & Company. ISBN0-7167-0462-5. Chen-To Tai (1995). A historical study of vector analysis [2]. Technical Report RL 915, Radiation Laboratory, University of Michigan.

External links
Vector Calculus Video Lectures [3] from University of New South Wales on Academic Earth A survey of the improper use of in vector analysis [4] (1994) Tai, Chen Expanding vector analysis to an oblique coordinate system [5] Vector Analysis: [6] A Text-book for the Use of Students of Mathematics and Physics, (based upon the lectures of Willard Gibbs) by Edwin Bidwell Wilson, published 1902. Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics: Vector Analysis [7]

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] http:/ / www. springerlink. com/ content/ r3p3602pq2t10036/ http:/ / deepblue. lib. umich. edu/ handle/ 2027. 42/ 7868 http:/ / academicearth. org/ courses/ vector-calculus http:/ / hdl. handle. net/ 2027. 42/ 7869 http:/ / www. mc. maricopa. edu/ ~kevinlg/ i256/ Nonortho_math. pdf http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=R5IKAAAAYAAJ& printsec=frontcover http:/ / www. economics. soton. ac. uk/ staff/ aldrich/ vector%20analysis. htm

Gradient

Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field which points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change. A generalization of the gradient for functions on a Euclidean space which have values in another Euclidean space is the Jacobian. A further generalization for a function from one Banach space to another is the Frchet derivative.

Interpretations
Consider a room in which the temperature is given by a scalar field, , so at each point the temperature is (we will assume that the temperature does not change in time). At each point in the room, the gradient of at that point will show the direction the temperature rises most quickly. The magnitude of the gradient will determine how fast the temperature rises in that direction.

In the above two images, the scalar field is in black and white, black representing higher values, and its corresponding gradient is represented by blue arrows.

Consider a surface whose height above sea level at a point given by the magnitude of the gradient vector.

is

. The gradient of

at a point is a

vector pointing in the direction of the steepest slope or grade at that point. The steepness of the slope at that point is The gradient can also be used to measure how a scalar field changes in other directions, rather than just the direction of greatest change, by taking a dot product. Suppose that the steepest slope on a hill is 40%. If a road goes directly up the hill, then the steepest slope on the road will also be 40%. If, instead, the road goes around the hill at an angle (the gradient vector), then it will have a shallower slope. For example, if the angle between the road and the uphill direction, projected onto the horizontal plane, is 60, then the steepest slope along the road will be 20%, which is 40% times the cosine of 60. This observation can be mathematically stated as follows. If the hill height function gradient of when derivative of is differentiable, the dot product of the gradient of in the direction of that unit vector. is differentiable, then the dotted with a unit vector gives the slope of the hill in the direction of the vector. More precisely, with a given unit vector is equal to the directional

Gradient

Definition

The gradient of the function f(x,y)=(cos2x+cos2y)2 depicted as a vector field on the bottom plane

The gradient (or gradient vector field) of a scalar function (the nabla symbol) denotes the vector differential operator, del. The notation is:

is denoted

or

where

is also used for the . That

gradient. The gradient of f is defined to be the vector field whose components are the partial derivatives of

Here the gradient is written as a row vector, but it is often taken to be a column vector. When a function also depends on a parameter such as time, the gradient often refers simply to the vector of its spatial derivatives only. The gradient of a vector or the transpose of the Jacobian matrix It is a second-rank tensor. More generally, the gradient may be defined using the exterior derivative: is .

Here and are the musical isomorphisms.

Gradient

Expression in 3-dimensional rectangular coordinates

The form of the gradient depends on the coordinate system used. In Cartesian coordinates, the above expression expands to

which is often written using the standard vectors

Example
For example, the gradient of the function in Cartesian coordinates

is:

Gradient and the derivative or differential

Linear approximation to a function
The gradient of a function close to , where from the Euclidean space to at any particular point x0 in characterizes the for . best linear approximation to f at x0. The approximation is as follows: is the gradient of f computed at , and the dot denotes the dot product on This equation is equivalent to the first two terms in the multi-variable Taylor Series expansion of f at x0.

Differential or (exterior) derivative

The best linear approximation to a function which is often denoted by function , which maps to or at a point in is a linear map from at for any to . The . The and called the differential or (total) derivative of , is called the differential or exterior derivative of

gradient is therefore related to the differential by the formula differential 1-form. If is viewed as the space of (length vector

and is an example of a as the row

) column vectors (of real numbers), then one can regard

so that .

is given by matrix multiplication. The gradient is then the corresponding column vector, i.e.,

Gradient

Gradient as a derivative
Let U be an open set in Rn. If the function f:UR is differentiable, then the differential of f is the (Frchet) derivative of f. Thus is a function from U to the space R such that

where is the dot product. As a consequence, the usual properties of the derivative hold for the gradient: Linearity The gradient is linear in the sense that if f and g are two real-valued functions differentiable at the point aRn, and and are two constants, then f+g is differentiable at a, and moreover

Product rule If f and g are real-valued functions differentiable at a point aRn, then the product rule asserts that the product (fg)(x) = f(x)g(x) of the functions f and g is differentiable at a, and

Chain rule Suppose that f:AR is a real-valued function defined on a subset A of Rn, and that f is differentiable at a point a. There are two forms of the chain rule applying to the gradient. First, suppose that the function g is a parametric curve; that is, a function g : I Rn maps a subset I R into Rn. If g is differentiable at a point c I such that g(c) = a, then More generally, if instead IRk, then the following holds: where (Dg)T denotes the transpose Jacobian matrix. For the second form of the chain rule, suppose that h : I R is a real valued function on a subset I of R, and that h is differentiable at the point c = f(a) I. Then

Transformation properties
Although the gradient is defined in term of coordinates, it is contravariant under the application of an orthogonal matrix to the coordinates. This is true in the sense that if A is an orthogonal matrix, then

which follows by the chain rule above. A vector transforming in this way is known as a contravariant vector, and so the gradient is a special type of tensor. The differential is more natural than the gradient because it is invariant under all coordinate transformations (or diffeomorphisms), whereas the gradient is only invariant under orthogonal transformations (because of the implicit use of the dot product in its definition). Because of this, it is common to blur the distinction between the two concepts using the notion of covariant and contravariant vectors. From this point of view, the components of the gradient transform covariantly under changes of coordinates, so it is called a covariant vector field, whereas the components of a vector field in the usual sense transform contravariantly. In this language the gradient is the differential, as a covariant vector field is the same thing as a differential 1-form.[1]
[1] Unfortunately this confusing language is confused further by differing conventions. Although the components of a differential 1-form transform covariantly under coordinate transformations, differential 1-forms themselves transform contravariantly (by pullback) under

Gradient
diffeomorphism. For this reason differential 1-forms are sometimes said to be contravariant rather than covariant, in which case vector fields are covariant rather than contravariant.

Further properties and applications

Level sets
If the partial derivatives of f are continuous, then the dot product of the gradient at a point x with a vector v gives the directional derivative of f at x in the direction v. It follows that in this case the gradient of f is orthogonal to the level sets of f. For example, a level surface in three-dimensional space is defined by an equation of the form F(x,y,z)=c. The gradient of F is then normal to the surface. More generally, any embedded hypersurface in a Riemannian manifold can be cut out by an equation of the form F(P)=0 such that dF is nowhere zero. The gradient of F is then normal to the hypersurface. Let us consider a function f at a point P. If we draw a surface through this point P and the function has the same value at all points on this surface,then this surface is called a 'level surface'.

Conservative vector fields

The gradient of a function is called a gradient field. A (continuous) gradient field is always a conservative vector field: its line integral along any path depends only on the endpoints of the path, and can be evaluated by the gradient theorem (the fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals). Conversely, a (continuous) conservative vector field is always the gradient of a function.

Riemannian manifolds
For any smooth function f on a Riemannian manifold (M,g), the gradient of f is the vector field any vector field where , (sometimes is given such that for

denotes the inner product of tangent vectors at x defined by the metric g and from an open subset of M to an open subset of Rn,

denoted X(f)) is the function that takes any point xM to the directional derivative of f in the direction X, evaluated at x. In other words, in a coordinate chart by:

where Xj denotes the jth component of X in this coordinate chart. So, the local form of the gradient takes the form:

Generalizing the case M=Rn, the gradient of a function is related to its exterior derivative, since . More precisely, the gradient is the vector field associated to the differential 1-form df using the musical isomorphism (called "sharp") defined by the metric g. The relation between the exterior derivative and the gradient of a function on Rn is a special case of this in which the metric is the flat metric given by the dot product.

Gradient

10

Non-Cartesian Coordinate Systems

In cylindrical coordinates, the gradient is given by (Schey 1992, pp.139142):

where

is the azimuthal angle,

is the axial coordinate, and e, e and ez are unit vectors pointing along the

coordinate directions. In spherical coordinates (Schey 1992, pp.139142):

where

is the azimuth angle and

is the zenith angle.

References
Korn, Theresa M.; Korn, Granino Arthur (2000), Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers: Definitions, Theorems, and Formulas for Reference and Review, New York: Dover Publications, pp.157160, ISBN0-486-41147-8, OCLC43864234. Schey, H.M. (1992), Div, Grad, Curl, and All That (2nd ed.), W.W. Norton, ISBN0-393-96251-2, OCLC25048561.

External links
Kuptsov, L.P. (2001), "Gradient" (http://eom.springer.de/G/g044680.htm), in Hazewinkel, Michiel, Encyclopaedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN978-1556080104 Weisstein, Eric W., " Gradient (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Gradient.html)" from MathWorld.

Divergence

11

Divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that measures the magnitude of a vector field's source or sink at a given point, in terms of a signed scalar. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around a given point. For example, consider air as it is heated or cooled. The relevant vector field for this example is the velocity of the moving air at a point. If air is heated in a region it will expand in all directions such that the velocity field points outward from that region. Therefore the divergence of the velocity field in that region would have a positive value, as the region is a source. If the air cools and contracts, the divergence is negative and the region is called a sink.

Definition of divergence
In physical terms, the divergence of a three dimensional vector field is the extent to which the vector field flow behaves like a source or a sink at a given point. It is a local measure of its "outgoingness"the extent to which there is more exiting an infinitesimal region of space than entering it. If the divergence is nonzero at some point then there must be a source or sink at that position[1] . (Note that we are imagining the vector field to be like the velocity vector field of a fluid (in motion) when we use the terms flow, sink and so on.) More rigorously, the divergence of a vector field F at a point p is defined as the limit of the net flow of F across the smooth boundary of a three dimensional region V divided by the volume of V as V shrinks to p. Formally,

where |V | is the volume of V, S(V) is the boundary of V, and the integral is a surface integral with n being the outward unit normal to that surface. The result, div F, is a function of the location p. From this definition it also becomes explicitly visible that div F can be seen as the source density of the flux of F. In light of the physical interpretation, a vector field with constant zero divergence is called incompressible or solenoidal in this case, no net flow can occur across any closed surface. The intuition that the sum of all sources minus the sum of all sinks should give the net flow outwards of a region is made precise by the divergence theorem.

Application in Cartesian coordinates

Let x, y, z be a system of Cartesian coordinates on a 3-dimensional Euclidean space, and let i,j,k be the corresponding basis of unit vectors. The divergence of a continuously differentiable vector field F = U i + V j + W k is equal to the scalar-valued function:

Although expressed in terms of coordinates, the result is invariant under orthogonal transformations, as the physical interpretation suggests. The common notation for the divergence F is a convenient mnemonic, where the dot denotes an operation reminiscent of the dot product: take the components of (see del), apply them to the components of F, and sum the results. As a result, this is considered an abuse of notation.

Divergence

12

Decomposition theorem
It can be shown that any stationary flux v(r) which is at least two times continuously differentiable in and vanishes sufficiently fast for |r| can be decomposed into an irrotational part E(r) and a source-free part B(r). Moreover, these parts are explicitly determined by the respective source-densities (see above) and circulation densities (see the article Curl): For the irrotational part one has

with

The source-free part, B, can be similarly written: one only has to replace the scalar potential (r) by a vector potential A(r) and the terms by +A, and finally the source-density div v by the circulation-density v. This "decomposition theorem" is in fact a by-product of the stationary case of electrodynamics. It is a special case of the more general Helmholtz decomposition which works in dimensions greater than three as well.

Properties
The following properties can all be derived from the ordinary differentiation rules of calculus. Most importantly, the divergence is a linear operator, i.e.

for all vector fields F and G and all real numbers a and b. There is a product rule of the following type: if is a scalar valued function and F is a vector field, then

or in more suggestive notation

Another product rule for the cross product of two vector fields F and G in three dimensions involves the curl and reads as follows:

or

The Laplacian of a scalar field is the divergence of the field's gradient. The divergence of the curl of any vector field (in three dimensions) is equal to zero: If a vector field F with zero divergence is defined on a ball in R3, then there exists some vector field G on the ball with F = curl(G). For regions in R3 more complicated than this, the latter statement might be false (see Poincar lemma). The degree of failure of the truth of the statement, measured by the homology of the chain complex

(where the first map is the gradient, the second is the curl, the third is the divergence) serves as a nice quantification of the complicatedness of the underlying region U. These are the beginnings and main motivations of de Rham

Divergence cohomology.

13

Relation with the exterior derivative

One can establish a parallel between the divergence and a particular case of the exterior derivative, when it takes a 2-form to a 3-form in R3. If we define:

its exterior derivative

is given by

Thus, using the exterior derivative, the divergence can be expressed as:

Here the superscript

is one of the two musical isomorphisms, and

is the Hodge dual.

Generalizations
The divergence of a vector field can be defined in any number of dimensions. If

in a Euclidean coordinate system where

and

, define

The appropriate expression is more complicated in curvilinear coordinates. For any n, the divergence is a linear operator, and it satisfies the "product rule"

for any scalar-valued function

. e.g. a , on such a

The divergence can be defined on any manifold of dimension n with a volume form (or density) Riemannian or Lorentzian manifold. Generalising the construction of a two form for a vectorfield on manifold a vectorfield X defines a n-1 form the function defined by Standard formulas for the Lie derivative allow us to reformulate this as obtained by contracting X with

. The divergence is then

This means that the divergence measures the rate of expansion of a volume element as we let it flow with the vectorfield. On a Riemannian or Lorentzian manifold the divergence with respect to the metric volume form can be computed in terms of the Levi Civita connection

where the second expression is the contraction of the vectorfield valued 1 -form expression is the traditional coordinate expression used by physicists.

with itself and the last is

Divergence can also be generalised to tensors. In Einstein notation, the divergence of a contravariant vector given by

Divergence where is the covariant derivative. Equivalently, some authors define the divergence of any mixed tensor by

14

using the "musical notation #": If T is a (p,q)-tensor,(p for the contravariant vector and q for the covariant one), then we define the divergence of T to be the (p,q-1)-tensor

,that is we trace the covariant derivative on the first two covariant indices.

Notes
[1] DIVERGENCE of a Vector Field (http:/ / musr. phas. ubc. ca/ ~jess/ hr/ skept/ Gradient/ node4. html)

References
1. Brewer, Jess H. (1999-04-07). "DIVERGENCE of a Vector Field" (http://musr.phas.ubc.ca/~jess/hr/skept/ Gradient/node4.html). Vector Calculus. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 2. Theresa M. Korn; Korn, Granino Arthur. Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers: Definitions, Theorems, and Formulas for Reference and Review. New York: Dover Publications. pp.157160. ISBN0-486-41147-8.

External links
The idea of divergence and curl (http://www.math.umn.edu/~nykamp/m2374/readings/divcurl)

Curl (mathematics)
In vector calculus, the curl (or rotor) is a vector operator that describes the infinitesimal rotation of a 3-dimensional vector field. At every point in the field, the curl is represented by a vector. The attributes of this vector (length and direction) characterize the rotation at that point. The direction of the curl is the axis of rotation, as determined by the right-hand rule, and the magnitude of the curl is the magnitude of rotation. If the vector field represents the flow velocity of a moving fluid, then the curl is the circulation density of the fluid. A vector field whose curl is zero is called irrotational. The curl is a form of differentiation for vector fields. The corresponding form of the fundamental theorem of calculus is Stokes' theorem, which relates the surface integral of the curl of a vector field to the line integral of the vector field around the boundary curve. The alternative terminology rotor or rotational and alternative notations rot F and F are often used (the former especially in many European countries, the latter using the del operator and the cross product) for curl and curl F. Unlike the gradient and divergence, curl does not generalize as simply to other dimensions; some generalizations are possible, but only in three dimensions is the geometrically defined curl of a vector field again a vector field. This is a similar phenomenon as in the 3 dimensional cross product, and the connection is reflected in the notation for the curl. The name "curl" was first suggested by James Clerk Maxwell in 1871.[1]

Curl (mathematics)

15

Definition
The curl of a vector field F, denoted curl F or F, at a point is defined in terms of its projection onto various lines through the point. If is any unit vector, the projection of the curl of F onto is defined to be the limiting value of a closed line integral in a plane orthogonal to as the path used in the integral becomes infinitesimally close to the point, divided by the area enclosed. As such, the curl operator maps C1 functions from R3 to R3 to C0 functions from R3 to R3. Implicitly, curl is defined by:[2]

Convention for vector orientation of the line integral

Here

is a line integral along the boundary of the area in question, and A is the magnitude of the area. If is

an outward pointing in-plane normal, whereas is the unit-vector perpendicular to the plane (see caption at right), then the orientation of C is chosen so that a vector tangent to C is positively oriented if and only if forms a positively oriented basis for R3 (right-hand rule). The above formula means that the curl of a vector field is defined as the infinitesimal area-density of the circulation of that field. To this definition fit naturally (i) the Kelvin-Stokes theorem, as a global formula corresponding to the definition, and (ii) the following "easy to memorize" definition of the curl in orthogonal curvilinear coordinates, e.g. in cartesian coordinates, spherical, or cylindrical, or even elliptical or parabolical coordinates:

If (x1,x2,x3) are the Cartesian coordinates and (u1,u2,u3) are the curvilinear coordinates, then length of the coordinate vector corresponding to index-permutation: 3,1,2 1,2,3 2,3,1.

is the

. The remaining two components of curl result from cyclic

Intuitive interpretation
Suppose the vector field describes the velocity field of a fluid flow (maybe a large tank of water or gas) and a small ball is located within the fluid or gas (the centre of the ball being fixed at a certain point). If the ball has a rough surface it will be made to rotate by the fluid flowing past it. The rotation axis (oriented according to the right hand rule) points in the direction of the curl of the field at the centre of the ball, and the angular speed of the rotation is half the value of the curl at this point.[3]

Curl (mathematics)

16

Usage
In practice, the above definition is rarely used because in virtually all cases, the curl operator can be applied using some set of curvilinear coordinates, for which simpler representations have been derived. The notation F has its origins in the similarities to the 3 dimensional cross product, and it is useful as a mnemonic in Cartesian coordinates if we take as a vector differential operator del. Such notation involving operators is common in physics and algebra. If certain coordinate systems are used, for instance, polar-toroidal coordinates (common in plasma physics) using the notation F will yield an incorrect result. Expanded in Cartesian coordinates (see: Del in cylindrical and spherical coordinates for spherical and cylindrical coordinate representations), F is, for F composed of [Fx, Fy, Fz]:

where i, j, and k are the unit vectors for the x-, y-, and z-axes, respectively. This expands as follows:[4]

Although expressed in terms of coordinates, the result is invariant under proper rotations of the coordinate axes but the result inverts under reflection. In a general coordinate system, the curl is given by[2]

where denotes the Levi-Civita symbol, the metric tensor is used to lower the index on F, and the Einstein summation convention implies that repeated indices are summed over. Equivalently,

where ek are the coordinate vector fields. Equivalently, using the exterior derivative, the curl can be expressed as:

Here and are the musical isomorphisms, and is the Hodge dual. This formula shows how to calculate the curl of F in any coordinate system, and how to extend the curl to any oriented three dimensional Riemannian manifold. Since this depends on a choice of orientation, curl is a chiral operation. In other words, if the orientation is reversed, then the direction of the curl is also reversed.

Curl (mathematics)

17

Examples
A simple vector field
Take the vector field, which depends on x and y linearly:

Its plot looks like this:

Simply by visual inspection, we can see that the field is rotating. If we stick a paddle wheel anywhere, we see immediately its tendency to rotate clockwise. Using the right-hand rule, we expect the curl to be into the page. If we are to keep a right-handed coordinate system, into the page will be in the negative z direction. The lack of x and y directions is analogous to the cross product operation. If we calculate the curl:

Which is indeed in the negative z direction, as expected. In this case, the curl is actually a constant, irrespective of position. The "amount" of rotation in the above vector field is the same at any point (x,y). Plotting the curl of F is not very interesting:

Curl (mathematics)

18

A more involved example

Suppose we now consider a slightly more complicated vector field:

Its plot:

We might not see any rotation initially, but if we closely look at the right, we see a larger field at, say, x=4 than at x=3. Intuitively, if we placed a small paddle wheel there, the larger "current" on its right side would cause the paddlewheel to rotate clockwise, which corresponds to a curl in the negative z direction. By contrast, if we look at a point on the left and placed a small paddle wheel there, the larger "current" on its left side would cause the paddlewheel to rotate counterclockwise, which corresponds to a curl in the positive z direction. Let's check out our guess by doing the math:

Curl (mathematics) Indeed the curl is in the positive z direction for negative x and in the negative z direction for positive x, as expected. Since this curl is not the same at every point, its plot is a bit more interesting:

19

Curl of F with the x=0 plane emphasized in dark blue

We note that the plot of this curl has no dependence on y or z (as it shouldn't) and is in the negative z direction for positive x and in the positive z direction for negative x.

Identities
Consider the example [ v F ]. Using Cartesian coordinates, it can be shown that In the case where the vector field v and are interchanged:

which introduces the Feynman subscript notation F, which means the subscripted gradient operates only on the factor F. Another example is [ F ]. Using Cartesian coordinates, it can be shown that: which can be construed as a special case of the previous example with the substitution v . The curl of the gradient of any scalar field is always the zero vector:

If

is a scalar valued function and F is a vector field, then

Curl (mathematics)

20

Descriptive examples
In a vector field describing the linear velocities of each part of a rotating disk, the curl has the same value at all points. Of the four Maxwell's equations two, Faraday's law and Ampre's law can be compactly expressed using curl. Faraday's law states that the curl of an electric field is equal to the opposite of the time rate of change of the magnetic field, while Ampre's law relates the curl of the magnetic field to the current and rate of change of the electric field.

Generalizations
The vector calculus operations of grad, curl, and div are most easily generalized and understood in the context of differential forms, which involves a number of steps. In a nutshell, they correspond to the derivatives of 0-forms, 1-forms, and 2-forms, respectively. The geometric interpretation of curl as rotation corresponds to identifying bivectors (2-vectors) in 3 dimensions with the special orthogonal Lie algebra of infinitesimal rotations (in coordinates, skew-symmetric 33 matrices), while representing rotations by vectors corresponds to identifying 1-vectors (equivalently, 2-vectors) and these all being 3-dimensional spaces.

Differential forms
In 3 dimensions, a differential 0-form is simply a function of three functions ; a differential 1-form is a linear combination a differential 2-form is a linear combination of three functions and a differential 3-form is defined by a single function: The exterior derivative of a k-form is a and the exterior derivative by d yields a sequence: Here is the space of sections of the exterior algebra note that for or vector bundle over Rn, whose dimension is Writing only dimensions, one obtains -form, and denoting the space of k-forms by

the binomial coefficient a row of Pascal's triangle:

the 1-dimensional fibers correspond to functions, and the 3-dimensional fibers to vector fields, as described below. Note that modulo suitable identifications, the three nontrivial occurrences of the exterior derivative correspond to grad, curl, and div. Differential forms and the differential can be defined on any Euclidean space, or indeed any manifold, without any notion of a Riemannian metric. On a Riemannian manifold, or more generally pseudo-Riemannian manifold, k-forms can be identified with k-vector fields (k-forms are k-covector fields, and a pseudo-Riemannian metric gives an isomorphism between vectors and covectors), and on an oriented vector space with a nondegenerate form (an isomorphism between vectors and covectors), there is an isomorphism between k-vectors and -vectors; in particular on (the tangent space of) an oriented pseudo-Riemannian manifold. Thus on an oriented pseudo-Riemannian manifold, one can interchange k-forms, k-vector fields, -forms, and -vector fields; this is known as Hodge duality. Concretely, on 1-forms and 1-vector fields: the 1-form 1-forms and 2-forms: one replaces by corresponds to and this is given by: corresponds to the vector field (i.e., omit dx), and likewise, taking care of orientation: corresponds to Thus

corresponds to Thus, identifying 0-forms and 3-forms with functions, and 1-forms and 2-forms with vector fields: grad takes a function (0-form) to a vector field (1-form);

Curl (mathematics) curl takes a vector field (1-form) to a vector field (2-form); div takes a vector field (2-form) to a function (3-form). Grad and div generalize to all oriented pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, with the same geometric interpretation, because the spaces of 0-forms and n-forms is always (fiberwise) 1-dimensional and can be identified with scalar functions, while the spaces of 1-forms and -forms are always fiberwise n-dimensional and can be identified with vector fields. Curl does not generalize in this way to 4 or more dimensions (or down to 2 or fewer dimensions); in 4 dimensions the dimensions are

21

so the curl of a 1-vector field (fiberwise 4-dimensional) is a 2-vector field, which is fiberwise 6-dimensional and cannot be identified with a 1-vector field. Nor can one meaningfully go from a 1-vector field to a 2-vector field to a 3-vector field ( ), as taking the differential twice yields zero ( ). Thus there is no curl function from vector fields to vector fields in other dimensions arising in this way. However, one can define a curl of a vector field as a 2-vector field in general, as described below.

Curl geometrically
2-vectors correspond to the exterior power in the presence of an inner product, in coordinates these are the of skew-symmetric matrices, which are geometrically considered as the special orthogonal Lie algebra infinitesimal rotations. This has

dimensions, and allows one to interpret the differential of a

1-vector field as its infinitesimal rotations. Only in 3 dimensions (or trivially in 0 dimensions) is which is the most elegant and common case. is In 2 dimensions the curl of a vector field is not a vector field but a function, as 2-dimensional rotations are given by an angle (a scalar - an orientation is required to choose whether one counts clockwise or counterclockwise rotations as positive); note that this is not the div, but is rather perpendicular to it. In 3 dimensions the curl of a vector field is a vector field as is familiar (in 1 and 0 dimensions the curl of a vector field is 0, because there are no non-trivial 2-vectors), while in 4 dimensions the curl of a vector field is, geometrically, at each point an element of the 6-dimensional Lie algebra Note also that the curl of a 3-dimensional vector field which only depends on 2 coordinates (say x, y) is simply a vertical vector field (in the z direction) whose magnitude is the curl of the 2-dimensional vector field, as in the examples on this page. Considering curl as a 2-vector field (an antisymmetric 2-tensor) has been used to generalize vector calculus and associated physics to higher dimensions.[5]

See also
Del Gradient Divergence Nabla in cylindrical and spherical coordinates Vorticity Cross product Helmholtz decomposition

Curl (mathematics)

22

Notes
[1] Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, March 9th, 1871 (http:/ / www. clerkmaxwellfoundation. org/ MathematicalClassificationofPhysicalQuantities_Maxwell. pdf) [2] Weisstein, Eric W., " Curl (http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ Curl. html)" from MathWorld. [3] Gibbs, Josiah Willard; Wilson, Edwin Bidwell (1902), Vector analysis (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=R5IKAAAAYAAJ& printsec=frontcover), [4] Arfken, p. 43. [5] Generalizing Cross Products and Maxwell's Equations to Universal Extra Dimensions (http:/ / arxiv. org/ abs/ hep-ph/ 0609260), A.W. McDavid, C.D. McMullen, 2006

References
Arfken, George B. and Hans J. Weber. Mathematical Methods For Physicists, Academic Press; 6 edition (June 21, 2005). ISBN 978-0120598762. Korn, Granino Arthur and Theresa M. Korn. Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers: Definitions, Theorems, and Formulas for Reference and Review. New York: Dover Publications. pp.157160. ISBN0-486-41147-8.

External links
The idea of divergence and curl (http://www.math.umn.edu/~nykamp/m2374/readings/divcurl)

Laplace operator
In mathematics the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols , 2 or . The Laplacian (p) of a function at a point p, up to a constant depending on the dimension, is the rate at which the average value of over spheres centered at p deviates from (p) as the radius of the sphere grows. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by sum of all the (unmixed) second partial derivatives of the function. In other coordinate systems such as cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form. The Laplace operator is named after the French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace (17491827), who first applied the operator to the study of celestial mechanics, where the operator gives a constant multiple of the mass density when it is applied to a given gravitational potential. Solutions of the equation = 0, now called Laplace's equation, are the so-called harmonic functions, and represent the possible gravitational fields in free space. It occurs in the differential equations that describe many physical phenomena, such as electric and gravitational potentials, the diffusion equation for heat and fluid flow, wave propagation, and quantum mechanics. The Laplacian represents the flux density of the gradient flow of a function. For instance, the net rate at which a chemical dissolved in a fluid moves towards or away from some point is proportional to the Laplacian of the chemical concentration at that point; expressed symbolically, the resulting equation is the diffusion equation. For these reasons, it is extensively used in the sciences for modelling all kinds of physical phenomena. The Laplacian is the simplest elliptic operator, and is at the core of Hodge theory as well as the results of de Rham cohomology. In image processing and computer vision, the Laplacian operator has been used for various tasks such as blob and edge detection.

Laplace operator

23

Definition
The Laplace operator is a second order differential operator in the n-dimensional Euclidean space, defined as the divergence () of the gradient (). Thus if is a twice-differentiable real-valued function, then the Laplacian of is defined by (1) Equivalently, the Laplacian of is the sum of all the unmixed second partial derivatives in the Cartesian coordinates : (2) As a second-order differential operator, the Laplace operator maps Ck-functions to Ck2-functions for k2. The expression (1) (or equivalently (2)) defines an operator : Ck(Rn) Ck2(Rn), or more generally an operator : Ck() Ck2() for any open set .

Motivation
Diffusion
In the physical theory of diffusion, the Laplace operator (via Laplace's equation) arises naturally in the mathematical description of equilibrium.[1] Specifically, if u is the density at equilibrium of some quantity such as a chemical concentration, then the net flux of u through the boundary of any smooth region V is zero, provided there is no source or sink within V:

where n is the outward unit normal to the boundary of V. By the divergence theorem,

Since this holds for all smooth regions V, it can be shown that this implies

The left-hand side of this equation is the Laplace operator. The Laplace operator itself has a physical interpretation for non-equilibrium diffusion as the extent to which a point represents a source or sink of chemical concentration, in a sense made precise by the diffusion equation.

Density associated to a potential

If denotes the electrostatic potential associated to a charge distribution q, then the charge distribution itself is given by the Laplacian of : {{{}}}
(1)

{{{}}} This is a consequence of Gauss's law. Indeed, if V is any smooth region, then by Gauss's law the flux of the electrostatic field E is equal to the charge enclosed (in appropriate units):

Laplace operator where the first equality uses the fact that the electrostatic field is the gradient of the electrostatic potential. The divergence theorem now gives

24

and since this holds for all regions V, (1) follows. The same approach implies that the Laplacian of the gravitational potential is the mass distribution. Often the charge (or mass) distribution are given, and the associated potential is unknown. Finding the potential function subject to suitable boundary conditions is equivalent to solving Poisson's equation.

Energy minimization
Another motivation for the Laplacian appearing in physics is that solutions to that make the Dirichlet energy functional stationary: in a region U are functions

To see this, suppose Then

is a function, and

is a function that vanishes on the boundary of U.

where the last equality follows using Green's first identity. This calculation shows that if stationary around f. Conversely, if E is stationary around f, then variations.

, then E is

by the fundamental lemma of calculus of

Coordinate expressions
Two dimensions
The Laplace operator in two dimensions is given by

where x and y are the standard Cartesian coordinates of the xy-plane. In polar coordinates,

Three dimensions
In three dimensions, it is common to work with the Laplacian in a variety of different coordinate systems. In Cartesian coordinates,

In cylindrical coordinates,

In spherical coordinates:

Laplace operator

25

(here represents the azimuthal angle and the zenith angle). In general curvilinear coordinates ( ):

where summation over the repeated indices is implied.

N dimensions
In spherical coordinates in N dimensions, with the parametrization x=rRN with r representing a positive real radius and an element of the unit sphere SN1,

where

is the LaplaceBeltrami operator on the (N1)-sphere, known as the spherical Laplacian. The two

radial terms can be equivalently rewritten as

As a consequence, the spherical Laplacian of a function defined on SN1RN can be computed as the ordinary Laplacian of the function extended to RN\{0} so that it is constant along rays, i.e., homogeneous of degree zero.

Spectral theory
The spectrum of the Laplace operator consists of all eigenvalues for which there is a corresponding eigenfunction with If is a bounded domain in Rn then the eigenfunctions of the Laplacian are an orthonormal basis in the Hilbert space L2(). This result essentially follows from the spectral theorem on compact self-adjoint operators, applied to the inverse of the Laplacian (which is compact, by the Poincar inequality and Kondrakov embedding theorem).[2] It can also be shown that the eigenfunctions are infinitely differentiable functions.[3] More generally, these results hold for the LaplaceBeltrami operator on any compact Riemannian manifold with boundary, or indeed for the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem of any elliptic operator with smooth coefficients on a bounded domain. When is the n-sphere, the eigenfunctions of the Laplacian are the well-known spherical harmonics.

Generalizations
D'Alembertian
The Laplacian can be generalized in certain ways to non-Euclidean spaces, where it may be elliptic, hyperbolic, or ultrahyperbolic. In the Minkowski space the Laplacian becomes the d'Alembert operator or d'Alembertian:

The D'Alembert operator is also known as the wave operator, because it is the differential operator appearing in the four-dimensional wave equation. It is also the leading part of the KleinGordon equation. The signs in front of the spatial derivatives are negative, while they would have been positive in the Euclidean space. The additional factor of c is needed if space and time are measured in different units; a similar factor would be required if, for example, the x

Laplace operator direction were measured in meters while the y direction were measured in centimeters. Indeed, physicists usually work in units such that c=1 in order to simplify the equation.

26

LaplaceBeltrami operator
The Laplacian can also be generalized to an elliptic operator called the LaplaceBeltrami operator defined on a Riemannian manifold. The d'Alembert operator generalizes to a hyperbolic operator on pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. The LaplaceBeltrami operator, when applied to a function, trace of the function's Hessian:

where the trace is taken with respect to the inverse of the metric tensor. The LaplaceBeltrami operator can also be generalized to an operator (also called the LaplaceBeltrami operator) which operates on tensor fields, by a similar formula. Another generalization of the Laplace operator that is available on pseudo-Riemannian manifolds uses the exterior derivative, in terms of which the Laplacian is expressed as Here d is the codifferential, which can also be expressed using the Hodge dual. More generally, the Laplacian is defined on differential forms by

This is known as the Laplacede Rham operator, which is related LaplaceBeltrami operator by the Weitzenbck identity.

Notes
[1] Evans 1998, 2.2 [2] Gilbarg & Trudinger 2001, Theorem 8.6 [3] Gilbarg & Trudinger 2001, Corollary 8.11

References
Evans, L (1998), Partial Differential Equations, American Mathematical Society, ISBN978-0821807729. Feynman, R, Leighton, R, and Sands, M (1970), "Chapter 12: Electrostatic Analogs", The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume 2, Addison-Wesley-Longman. Gilbarg, D.; Trudinger, N. (2001), Elliptic partial differential equations of second order, Springer, ISBN978-3540411604. Schey, H. M. (1996), Div, grad, curl, and all that, W W Norton & Company, ISBN978-0393969979. M.A. Shubin (2001), "Laplace operator" (http://eom.springer.de//l/l057510.htm), in Hazewinkel, Michiel, Encyclopaedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN978-1556080104.

External links
Weisstein, Eric W., " Laplacian (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Laplacian.html)" from MathWorld.

Gradient theorem

27

Gradient theorem
The gradient theorem, also known as the fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals, says that a line integral through a gradient field (any conservative vector field can be expressed as a gradient) can be evaluated by evaluating the original scalar field at the endpoints of the curve:

It is a generalization of the fundamental theorem of calculus to any curve in a plane or space (generally n-dimensional) rather than just the real line. The gradient theorem implies that line integrals through irrotational vector fields are path independent. In physics this theorem is one of the ways of defining a "conservative" force. By placing as potential, is a conservative field. Work done by conservative forces does not depend on the path followed by the object, but only the end points, as the above equation shows.

Proof
Let be a 0-form (scalar field). Let L be a 1-segment (curve) from p to q. By Stokes' theorem:

But because

Restricting the curve to Euclidean space and expanding in Cartesian coordinates:

Green's theorem

28

Green's theorem
In mathematics, Green's theorem gives the relationship between a line integral around a simple closed curve C and a double integral over the plane region D bounded by C. It is the two-dimensional special case of the more general Stokes' theorem, and is named after British mathematician George Green. Let C be a positively oriented, piecewise smooth, simple closed curve in the plane
2

, and let D be the region

bounded by C. If L and M are functions of (x, y) defined on an open region containing D and have continuous partial derivatives there, then

For positive orientation, an arrow pointing in the counterclockwise direction may be drawn in the small circle in the integral symbol. In physics, Green's theorem is mostly used to solve two-dimensional flow integrals, stating that the sum of fluid outflows at any point inside a volume is equal to the total outflow summed about an enclosing area. In plane geometry, and in particular, area surveying, Green's theorem can be used to determine the area and centroid of plane figures solely by integrating over the perimeter.

Proof when D is a simple region

The following is a proof of the theorem for the simplified area D, a type I region where C2 and C4 are vertical lines. A similar proof exists for when D is a type II region where C1 and C3 are straight lines. The general case can be deduced from this special case by approximating the domain D by a union of simple domains. If it can be shown that

If D is a simple region with its boundary consisting of the curves C1, C2, C3, C4, Green's theorem can be demonstrated.

and

Green's theorem are true, then Green's theorem is proven in the first case. Define the type I region D as pictured on the right by:

29

where g1 and g2 are continuous functions on [a, b]. Compute the double integral in (1):

Now compute the line integral in (1). C can be rewritten as the union of four curves: C1, C2, C3, C4. With C1, use the parametric equations: x = x, y = g1(x), a x b. Then

With C3, use the parametric equations: x = x, y = g2(x), a x b. Then

The integral over C3 is negated because it goes in the negative direction from b to a, as C is oriented positively (counterclockwise). On C2 and C4, x remains constant, meaning

Therefore,

Combining (3) with (4), we get (1). Similar computations give (2).

Relationship to the Stokes theorem

Green's theorem is a special case of Stokes' theorem, when applied to a region on the xy-plane: We can augment the two-dimensional field into a three-dimensional field with a z-component that is always 0: . Start with the left side of Green's theorem:

Then by Stokes' Theorem:

The surface

is just the region in the plane

, with the unit normals pointing up (in +z direction) to match the

"positive orientation" definitions for both theorems. The expression inside the integral becomes

Thus we get the right side of Green's theorem

Green's theorem

30

Relationship to the divergence theorem

Considering only two-dimensional vector fields, Green's theorem is equivalent to the following two-dimensional version of the divergence theorem:

where

is the outward-pointing unit normal vector on the boundary. is a vector pointing

To see this, consider the unit normal in the right side of the equation. Since

tangential along a curve, and the curve C is the positively-oriented (i.e. counterclockwise) curve along the boundary, an outward normal would be a vector which points 90 to the right, which would be . The length of this vector is Now let the components of . So . Then the right hand side becomes

which by Green's theorem becomes

Area Calculation
Green's theorem can be used to compute area by line integral.[1] The area of D is given by:

Provided we choose L and M such that:

Then the area is given by:

Possible formulas for the area of D include[1] :

External links
Green's Theorem on MathWorld [2]

Reference
[1] Stewart, James. Calculus (6th ed.). Thomson, Brooks/Cole. [2] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ GreensTheorem. html

Stokes' theorem

31

Stokes' theorem
In differential geometry, Stokes' theorem (or Stokes's theorem, also called the generalized Stokes' theorem) is a statement about the integration of differential forms on manifolds, which both simplifies and generalizes several theorems from vector calculus. William Thomson first discovered the result and communicated it to George Stokes in July 1850.[1] [2] Stokes set the theorem as a question on the 1854 Smith's Prize exam [3], which led to the result bearing his name.[2]

Introduction
The fundamental theorem of calculus states that the integral of a function f over the interval [a, b] can be calculated by finding an antiderivative F of f:

Stokes' theorem is a vast generalization of this theorem in the following sense. By the choice of F, . In the parlance of differential forms, this is saying that f(x)dx is the exterior derivative of the 0-form, i.e. function, F: in other words, that dF = fdx. The general Stokes theorem applies to higher differential forms instead of F. A closed interval [a, b] is a simple example of a one-dimensional manifold with boundary. Its boundary is the set consisting of the two points a and b. Integrating f over the interval may be generalized to integrating forms on a higher-dimensional manifold. Two technical conditions are needed: the manifold has to be orientable, and the form has to be compactly supported in order to give a well-defined integral. The two points a and b form the boundary of the open interval. More generally, Stokes' theorem applies to oriented manifolds M with boundary. The boundary M of M is itself a manifold and inherits a natural orientation from that of the manifold. For example, the natural orientation of the interval gives an orientation of the two boundary points. Intuitively, a inherits the opposite orientation as b, as they are at opposite ends of the interval. So, "integrating" F over two boundary points a, b is taking the difference F(b)F(a). So the fundamental theorem reads:

General formulation
Let be an oriented smooth manifold of dimension n and let over as be an n-differential form that is compactly supported on . First, suppose that is compactly supported in the domain of a single, oriented coordinate chart

{U, }. In this case, we define the integral of

i.e., via the pullback of to Rn. More generally, the integral of over is defined as follows: Let {i} be a partition of unity associated with a locally finite cover {Ui, i} of (consistently oriented) coordinate charts, then define the integral

where each term in the sum is evaluated by pulling back to Rn as described above. This quantity is well-defined; that is, it does not depend on the choice of the coordinate charts, nor the partition of unity.

Stokes' theorem Stokes' theorem reads: If its induced orientation, then is an (n1)-form with compact support on and denotes the boundary of with

32

An integration manifold known as "normal" (here instead of called D) for the special case n=2

Here

is the exterior derivative, which is defined using the manifold structure only. On the r.h.s., a circle is is closed.
[4]

sometimes used within the integral sign to stress the fact that the (n-1)-manifold

The r.h.s. of the

equation is often used to formulate integral laws; the l.h.s. then leads to equivalent differential formulations (see below). The theorem is often used in situations where which the form is defined. is a so-called "normal manifold", as in the figure on the is an embedded oriented submanifold of some bigger manifold on

A proof becomes particularly simple if the submanifold

r.h.s., which can be segmented into vertical stripes (e.g. parallel to the xn direction), such that after a partial integration concerning this variable, nontrivial contributions come only from the upper and lower boundary surfaces (coloured in yellow and red, respectively), where the complementary mutual orientations are visible through the arrows.

Topological reading; integration over chains

Let M be a smooth manifold. A smooth singular k-simplex of M is a smooth map from the standard simplex in Rk to M. The free abelian group, Sk, generated by singular k-simplices is said to consist of singular k-chains of M. These groups, together with boundary map, , define a chain complex. The corresponding homology (resp. cohomology) is called the smooth singular homology (resp. cohomology) of M. On the other hand, the differential forms, with exterior derivative, d, as the connecting map, form a cochain complex, which defines de Rham cohomology. Differential k-forms can be integrated over a k-simplex in a natural way, by pulling back to Rk. Extending by linearity allows one to integrate over chains. This gives a linear map from the space of k-forms to the k-th group in the singular cochain, Sk*, the linear functionals on Sk. In other words, a k-form defines a functional

on the k-chains. Stokes' theorem says that this is a chain map from de Rham cohomology to singular cohomology; the exterior derivative, d, behaves like the dual of on forms. This gives a homomorphism from de Rham cohomology to singular cohomology. On the level of forms, this means: 1. closed forms, i.e., , and , have zero integral over boundaries, i.e. over manifolds that can be written as

Stokes' theorem 2. exact forms, i.e., . De Rham's theorem shows that this homomorphism is in fact an isomorphism. So the converse to 1 and 2 above hold true. In other words, if {ci} are cycles generating the k-th homology group, then for any corresponding real numbers, {ai}, there exist a closed form, , such that: , have zero integral over cycles, i.e. if the boundaries sum up to the empty set:

33

and this form is unique up to exact forms.

Underlying principle
To simplify these topological arguments, it is worthwhile to examine the underlying principle by considering an example for d = 2 dimensions. The essential idea can be understood by the diagram on the left, which shows that, in an oriented tiling of a manifold, the interior paths are traversed in opposite directions; their contributions to the path integral thus cancel each other pairwise. As a consequence, only the contribution from the boundary remains. It thus suffices to prove Stokes' theorem for sufficiently fine tilings (or, equivalently, simplices), which usually is not difficult.

Special cases
The general form of the Stokes theorem using differential forms is more powerful and easier to use than the special cases. Because in Cartesian coordinates the traditional versions can be formulated without the machinery of differential geometry they are more accessible, older and have familiar names. The traditional forms are often considered more convenient by practicing scientists and engineers but the non-naturalness of the traditional formulation becomes apparent when using other coordinate systems, even familiar ones like spherical or cylindrical coordinates. There is potential for confusion in the way names are applied, and the use of dual formulations.

Stokes' theorem

34

KelvinStokes theorem
This is a (dualized) 1+1 dimensional case, for a 1-form (dualized because it is a statement about vector fields). This special case is often just referred to as the Stokes' theorem in many introductory university vector calculus courses and as used in physics and engineering. It is also sometimes known as the curl theorem. The classical KelvinStokes theorem:

An illustration of the KelvinStokes theorem, with surface , its boundary and the "normal" vector n.

which relates the surface integral of the curl of a vector field over a surface in Euclidean three-space to the line integral of the vector field over its boundary, is a special case of the general Stokes theorem (with n = 2) once we identify a vector field with a 1 form using the metric on Euclidean three-space. The curve of the line integral, , must have positive orientation, meaning that dr points counterclockwise when the surface normal, d, points toward the viewer, following the right-hand rule. One consequence of the formula is that the field lines of a vector field with zero curl cannot be closed contours. The formula can be rewritten as:

where P, Q and R are the components of F. These variants are frequently used:

Stokes' theorem In electromagnetism Two of the four Maxwell equations involve curls of 3-D vector fields and their differential and integral forms are related by the KelvinStokes theorem. Caution must be taken to avoid cases with moving boundaries: the partial time derivatives are intended to exclude such cases. If moving boundaries are included, interchange of integration and differentiation introduces terms related to boundary motion not included in the results below:
Name Maxwell-Faraday equation Faraday's law of induction: stationary) Ampre's law (with Maxwell's extension): Differential form Integral form (using KelvinStokes theorem plus relativistic invariance, (with C and S not necessarily )

35

(with C and S not necessarily stationary)

The above listed subset of Maxwell's equations are valid for electromagnetic fields expressed in SI units. In other systems of units, such as CGS or Gaussian units, the scaling factors for the terms differ. For example, in Gaussian units, Faraday's law of induction and Ampre's law take the forms[5] [6]

respectively, where c is the speed of light in vacuum.

Divergence theorem
Likewise the Ostrogradsky-Gauss theorem (also known as the Divergence theorem or Gauss's theorem)

is a special case if we identify a vector field with the n1 form obtained by contracting the vector field with the Euclidean volume form.

Green's theorem
Green's theorem is immediately recognizable as the third integrand of both sides in the integral in terms of P, Q, and R cited above.

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] Olivier Darrigol,Electrodynamics from Ampere to Einstein, p. 146,ISBN 0198505930 Oxford (2000) Spivak (1965), p. vii, Preface. http:/ / www. clerkmaxwellfoundation. org/ SmithsPrizeExam_Stokes. pdf For mathematicians this fact is known, therefore the circle is redundant and often left away. However, one should keep in mind here that in thermodynamics, where frequently expressions as appear (wherein the total derivative, see below, should not be

mixed-up with the exterior one), the integration path W is a one-dimensional closed line on a much higher-dimensional manifold. I.e. in a thermodynamic application, where U is a function of the temperature , the volume and the electrical polarization of the sample, one has and the circle is really necessary, e.g. if one considers the

differential consequences of the integral postulate [5] J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 2nd Ed (Wiley, New York, 1975).

Stokes' theorem
[6] M. Born and E. Wolf, Principles of Optics, 6th Ed. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980).

36

Further reading
Joos, Georg. Theoretische Physik. 13th ed. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Wiesbaden 1980. ISBN 3-400-00013-2 Katz, Victor J. (May 1979), "The History of Stokes' Theorem" (http://links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0025-570X(197905)52:3<146:THOST>2.0.CO;2-O), Mathematics Magazine 52 (3): 146156 Marsden, Jerrold E., Anthony Tromba. Vector Calculus. 5th edition W. H. Freeman: 2003. Lee, John. Introduction to Smooth Manifolds. Springer-Verlag 2003. ISBN 978-0-387-95448-6 Rudin, Walter (1976), Principles of Mathematical Analysis, New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN0-07-054235-X Spivak, Michael (1965), Calculus on Manifolds: A Modern Approach to Classical Theorems of Advanced Calculus, HarperCollins, ISBN978-0-8053-9021-6 Stewart, James. Calculus: Concepts and Contexts. 2nd ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2001. Stewart, James. Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions. 5th ed. Brooks/Cole, 2003.

External links
Proof of the Divergence Theorem and Stokes' Theorem (http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/ hugheshallett/0471484822/theory/hh_focusontheory_sectionm.pdf) Proof of general Stokes theorem (http://planetmath.org/?op=getobj&amp;from=objects&amp;id=4370) on PlanetMath Differential Forms and Stokes' Theorem Jerrold E. Marsden Control and Dynamical Systems, Caltech (https:// www.cds.caltech.edu/help/uploads/wiki/files/177/Diff_Forms_pauses.pdf) Calculus 3 - Stokes Theorem from lamar.edu (http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/classes/calcIII/stokestheorem. aspx) - an expository explanation

Divergence theorem

37

Divergence theorem
In vector calculus, the divergence theorem, also known as Gauss' theorem (Carl Friedrich Gauss), Ostrogradsky's theorem (Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky), or GaussOstrogradsky theorem is a result that relates the flow (that is, flux) of a vector field through a surface to the behavior of the vector field inside the surface. More precisely, the divergence theorem states that the outward flux of a vector field through a closed surface is equal to the volume integral of the divergence on the region inside the surface. Intuitively, it states that the sum of all sources minus the sum of all sinks gives the net flow out of a region. The divergence theorem is an important result for the mathematics of engineering, in particular in electrostatics and fluid dynamics. The theorem is a special case of the more general Stokes' theorem, which generalizes the fundamental theorem of calculus.[1]

Intuition
If a fluid is flowing in some area, and we wish to know how much fluid flows out of a certain region within that area, then we need to add up the sources inside the region and subtract the sinks. The fluid flow is represented by a vector field, and the vector field's divergence at a given point describes the strength of the source or sink there. So, integrating the field's divergence over the interior of the region should equal the integral of the vector field over the region's boundary. The divergence theorem says that this is true. The divergence theorem is thus a conservation law which states that the volume total of all sinks and sources, the volume integral of the divergence, is equal to the net flow across the volume's boundary.[2]

Mathematical statement
Suppose V is a subset of Rn (in the case of n = 3, V represents a volume in 3D space) which is compact and has a piecewise smooth boundary S. If F is a continuously differentiable vector field defined on a neighborhood of V, then we have

A region V bounded by the surface S=V with the surface normal n

Divergence theorem

38

The divergence theorem can be used to calculate a flux through a closed surface that fully encloses a volume, like any of the surfaces on the left. It can not be used to calculate the flux through surfaces with boundaries, like those on the right. (Surfaces are blue, boundaries are red.)

The left side is a volume integral over the volume V, the right side is the surface integral over the boundary of the volume V. The closed manifold V is quite generally the boundary of V oriented by outward-pointing normals, and n is the outward pointing unit normal field of the boundary V. (dS may be used as a shorthand for ndS.) By the symbol within the two integrals it is stressed once more that V is a closed surface. In terms of the intuitive description above, the left-hand side of the equation represents the total of the sources in the volume V, and the right-hand side represents the total flow across the boundary V.

Corollaries
By applying the divergence theorem in various contexts, other useful identities can be derived (cf. vector identities). Applying the divergence theorem to the product of a scalar function g and a vector field F, the result is

A special case of this is

, in which case the theorem is the basis for Green's identities. , the result is

Applying the divergence theorem to the cross-product of two vector fields

Applying the divergence theorem to the product of a scalar function, f, and a non-zero constant vector, the following theorem can be proven:[3] .

Divergence theorem Applying the divergence theorem to the cross-product of a vector field F and a non-zero constant vector, the following theorem can be proven:[3]

39

Example
Suppose we wish to evaluate

A vector field on a sphere (this is not the field in the example).

where S is the unit sphere defined by

and F is the vector field

The direct computation of this integral is quite difficult, but we can simplify the derivation of the result using the divergence theorem:

Since the functions and are odd on

(which is a symmetric set with respect to the coordinate planes), one has

Therefore,

because the unit sphere W has volume

Divergence theorem

40

Applications
Differential form and integral form of physical laws
As a result of the divergence theorem, a host of physical laws can be written in both a differential form (where one quantity is the divergence of another) and an integral form (where the flux of one quantity through a closed surface is equal to another quantity). Three examples are Gauss's law (in electrostatics), Gauss's law for magnetism, and Gauss's law for gravity. Continuity equations Continuity equations offer more examples of laws with both differential and integral forms, related to each other by the divergence theorem. In fluid dynamics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, relativity theory, and a number of other fields, there are continuity equations that describe the conservation of mass, momentum, energy, probability, or other quantities. Generically, these equations state that the divergence of the flow of the conserved quantity is equal to the distribution of sources or sinks of that quantity. The divergence theorem states that any such continuity equation can be written in a differential form (in terms of a divergence) and an integral form (in terms of a flux).

Inverse-square laws
Any inverse-square law can instead be written in a Gauss' law-type form (with a differential and integral form, as described above). Two examples are Gauss' law (in electrostatics), which follows from the inverse-square Coulomb's law, and Gauss' law for gravity, which follows from the inverse-square Newton's law of universal gravitation. The derivation of the Gauss' law-type equation from the inverse-square formulation (or vice-versa) is exactly the same in both cases; see either of those articles for details.

History
The theorem was first discovered by Joseph Louis Lagrange in 1762, then later independently rediscovered by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1813, by George Green in 1825 and in 1831 by Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky, who also gave the first proof of the theorem. Subsequently, variations on the Divergence theorem are called Gauss's Theorem, Green's theorem, and Ostrogradsky's theorem.

Examples
Verify the planar variant of the divergence theorem for a region R, with F(x,y)=2yi + 5xj, where R is the region bounded by the circle

Solution: The boundary of R is the unit circle, C, that can be represented parametrically by:

such that C is

where s units is the length arc from the point s = 0 to the point P on C. Then a vector equation of

At a point

on C,

. Therefore,

Divergence theorem

41

Because

, and because

. Thus

Notes
[1] Stewart, James (2008), "Vector Calculus", Calculus: Early Transcendentals (6 ed.), Thomson Brooks/Cole, ISBN9780495011668 [2] Byron, Frederick; Fuller, Robert (1992), Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics, Dover Publications, p.22, ISBN9780486671642 [3] MathWorld (http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ DivergenceTheorem. html)

External links
Differential Operators and the Divergence Theorem (http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath330/kmath330. htm) at MathPages The Divergence (Gauss) Theorem (http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/TheDivergenceGaussTheorem/) by Nick Bykov, Wolfram Demonstrations Project. Weisstein, Eric W., " Divergence Theorem (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DivergenceTheorem.html)" from MathWorld. This article was originally based on the GFDL article from PlanetMath at http:/ / planetmath. org/ encyclopedia/ Divergence.html

Green's function

42

Green's function
In mathematics, a Green's function is a type of function used to solve inhomogeneous differential equations subject to specific initial conditions or boundary conditions. Under many-body theory, the term is also used in physics, specifically in quantum field theory, electrodynamics and statistical field theory, to refer to various types of correlation functions, even those that do not fit the mathematical definition. Green's functions are named after the British mathematician George Green, who first developed the concept in the 1830s. In the modern study of linear partial differential equations, Green's functions are studied largely from the point of view of fundamental solutions instead.

Definition and uses

A Green's function, G(x,s), of a linear differential operator L=L(x) acting on distributions over a subset of the Euclidean space Rn, at a point s, is any solution of {{{}}}
(1)

{{{}}} where {{{}}}

(2)

is the Dirac delta function. This property of a Green's function can be exploited to solve differential

equations of the form

{{{}}} If the kernel of L is non-trivial, then the Green's function is not unique. However, in practice, some combination of symmetry, boundary conditions and/or other externally imposed criteria will give a unique Green's function. Also, Green's functions in general are distributions, not necessarily proper functions. Green's functions are also a useful tool in solving wave equations, diffusion equations, and in quantum mechanics, where the Green's function of the Hamiltonian is a key concept, with important links to the concept of density of states. As a side note, the Green's function as used in physics is usually defined with the opposite sign; that is,

This definition does not significantly change any of the properties of the Green's function. If the operator is translation invariant, that is when L has constant coefficients with respect to x, then the Green's function can be taken to be a convolution operator, that is,

In this case, the Green function is the same as the impulse response of linear time-invariant system theory.

Green's function

43

Motivation
Loosely speaking, if such a function G can be found for the operator L, then if we multiply the equation (1) for the Green's function by f(s), and then perform an integration in the s variable, we obtain;

The right hand side is now given by the equation (2) to be equal to L u(x), thus:

Because the operator L=L(x) is linear and acts on the variablex alone (not on the variable of integration s), we can take the operator L outside of the integration on the right hand side, obtaining;

And this suggests; {{{}}}

(3)

{{{}}} Thus, we can obtain the function u(x) through knowledge of the Green's function in equation (1), and the source term on the right hand side in equation (2). This process has resulted from the linearity of the operatorL. In other words, the solution of equation (2), u(x), can be determined by the integration given in equation (3). Although f(x) is known, this integration cannot be performed unless G is also known. The problem now lies in finding the Green's function G that satisfies equation (1). For this reason, the Green's function is also sometimes called the fundamental solution associated to the operatorL. Not every operator L admits a Green's function. A Green's function can also be thought of as a right inverse of L. Aside from the difficulties of finding a Green's function for a particular operator, the integral in equation(3), may be quite difficult to evaluate. However the method gives a theoretically exact result. This can be thought of as an expansion of f according to a Dirac delta function basis (projecting f over (xs)) and a superposition of the solution on each projection. Such an integral equation is known as a Fredholm integral equation, the study of which constitutes Fredholm theory.

Green's functions for solving inhomogeneous boundary value problems

The primary use of Green's functions in mathematics is to solve non-homogeneous boundary value problems. In modern theoretical physics, Green's functions are also usually used as propagators in Feynman diagrams (and the phrase Green's function is often used for any correlation function).

Framework
Let L be the SturmLiouville operator, a linear differential operator of the form

and let D be the boundary conditions operator

Let f(x) be a continuous function in [0,l]. We shall also suppose that the problem

Green's function

44

is regular (i.e., only the trivial solution exists for the homogeneous problem).

Theorem
There is one and only one solution u(x) which satisfies

and it is given by

where G(x,s) is a Green's function satisfying the following conditions: 1. G(x,s) is continuous in x and s 2. 3. 4. 5. For , For , Derivative "jump": Symmetry: G(x, s)=G(s, x)

Finding Green's functions

Eigenvalue expansions
If a differential operator L admits a set of eigenvectors eigenvalues. Complete means that the set of functions (i.e., a set of functions and scalars such that ) that are complete, then it is possible to construct a Green's function from these eigenvectors and satisfies the following completeness relation:

Then the following holds:

where * represents complex conjugation. Applying the operator L to each side of this equation results in the completeness relation, which was assumed true. The general study of the Green's function written in the above form, and its relationship to the function spaces formed by the eigenvectors, is known as Fredholm theory.

Green's function

45

Green's functions for the Laplacian

Green's functions for linear differential operators involving the Laplacian may be readily put to use using the second of Green's identities. To derive Green's theorem, begin with the divergence theorem (otherwise known as Gauss's theorem):

Let operator:

and substitute into Gauss' law. Compute

and apply the chain rule for the

Plugging this into the divergence theorem produces Green's theorem:

Suppose that the linear differential operator L is the Laplacian, Laplacian. The defining property of the Green's function still holds:

, and that there is a Green's function G for the

Let

in Green's theorem. Then:

Using this expression, it is possible to solve Laplace's equation

or Poisson's equation

, subject to either Neumann or Dirichlet boundary conditions. In other words, we can solve for everywhere inside a volume where either (1) the value of (Neumann boundary conditions). Suppose the problem is to solve for is specified on the bounding surface of the is specified on the bounding surface

volume (Dirichlet boundary conditions), or (2) the normal derivative of inside the region. Then the integral

reduces to simply

due to the defining property of the Dirac delta function and we have:

This form expresses the well-known property of harmonic functions that if the value or normal derivative is known on a bounding surface, then the value of the function inside the volume is known everywhere. In electrostatics, is interpreted as the electric potential, as electric charge density, and the normal

derivative as the normal component of the electric field. If the problem is to solve a Dirichlet boundary value problem, the Green's function should be chosen such that vanishes when either x or x' is on the bounding surface; conversely, if the problem is to solve a Neumann boundary value problem, the Green's function is chosen such that its normal derivative vanishes on the bounding surface. Thus only one of the two terms in the surface integral remains. With no boundary conditions, the Green's function for the Laplacian (Green's function for the three-variable Laplace equation) is:

Green's function Supposing that the bounding surface goes out to infinity, and plugging in this expression for the Green's function, this gives the familiar expression for electric potential in terms of electric charge density (in the CGS unit system) as

46

Example
Given the problem

Find the Green's function. First step: The Green's function for the linear operator at hand is defined as the solution to

If

, then the delta function gives zero, and the general solution is

For

, the boundary condition at

implies

The equation of For

is skipped because implies

if

and

, the boundary condition at

The equation of

is skipped for similar reasons.

To summarize the results thus far:

Second step: The next task is to determine Ensuring continuity in the Green's function at

and

. implies

One can also ensure proper discontinuity in the first derivative by integrating the defining differential equation from to and taking the limit as goes to zero:

The two (dis)continuity equations can be solved for

and

to obtain

So the Green's function for this problem is:

Green's function

47

Further examples
Let n=1 and let the subset be all of R. Let L be d/dx. Then, the Heaviside step function H(x x0) is a Green's function of L at x0. Let n=2 and let the subset be the quarter-plane { (x, y) : x, y 0 } and L be the Laplacian. Also, assume a Dirichlet boundary condition is imposed at x=0 and a Neumann boundary condition is imposed at y=0. Then the Green's function is

References
S. S. Bayin (2006), Mathematical Methods in Science and Engineering, Wiley, Chapters 18 and 19. Eyges, Leonard, The Classical Electromagnetic Field, Dover Publications, New York, 1972. ISBN 0-486-63947-9. (Chapter 5 contains a very readable account of using Green's functions to solve boundary value problems in electrostatics.) A. D. Polyanin and V. F. Zaitsev, Handbook of Exact Solutions for Ordinary Differential Equations (2nd edition), Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2003. ISBN 1-58488-297-2 A. D. Polyanin, Handbook of Linear Partial Differential Equations for Engineers and Scientists, Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2002. ISBN 1-58488-299-9

External links
Weisstein, Eric W., "Green's Function [1]" from MathWorld. Green's function for differential operator [2] at PlanetMath. Green's function [3] on PlanetMath GreenFunctionsAndConformalMapping [4] on PlanetMath Introduction to the Keldysh Nonequilibrium Green Function Technique [5] by A. P. Jauho Tutorial on Green's functions [6] Boundary Element Method (for some idea on how Green's functions may be used with the boundary element method for solving potential problems numerically) [7] At Citizendium [8]

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ GreensFunction. html http:/ / planetmath. org/ encyclopedia/ GreensFunctionForDifferentialOperator. html http:/ / planetmath. org/ ?op=getobj& amp;from=objects& amp;id=6355 http:/ / planetmath. org/ ?op=getobj& amp;from=objects& amp;id=7963 http:/ / nanohub. org/ resources/ 1877 http:/ / www. boulder. nist. gov/ div853/ greenfn/ tutorial. html http:/ / www. ntu. edu. sg/ home/ mwtang/ bemsite. htm http:/ / en. citizendium. org/ wiki/ Green%27s_function

Article Sources and Contributors

48

Article Sources and Contributors

Vector calculus Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=399252982 Contributors: Akerans, Andrei Stroe, Andy M. Wang, Anonymous Dissident, Ap, Arabani, ArielGold, Asyndeton, AxelBoldt, Azmiriam, Charles Matthews, ChristopherWillis, Cometstyles, Conversion script, Correogsk, Damian Yerrick, DavidBlackwell, DavidCary, Discospinster, Dysprosia, Edgerck, Foxjwill, Giftlite, Gombang, Gurch, Hadal, Heathhunnicutt, Hellisp, Herebo, Hotstreets, Hypernurb, Iantresman, Icedragoniii, Icekiss, JDX, Jacolston, Jhausauer, Jim.belk, Jitse Niesen, Joey-das-WBF, JohnBlackburne, Jossi, KGasso, Kristensson, Kyle1278, L Kensington, L-H, Lavaka, Linuxlad, Logitech111, M1ss1ontomars2k4, MFNickster, Maksim-e, MathKnight, Meier99, Metacomet, MrOllie, Msh210, NETTKNUT, Nanmus, Nbarth, Oldway1, Oleg Alexandrov, Orhanghazi, Paolo.dL, Paul August, Phantomsteve, Phyguy03, PlatypeanArchcow, RMFan1, Randomblue, Realworth, Rgdboer, Rossami, Rst20xx, Sammy1339, Shadow1, Sholtar, Siddhant, Silly rabbit, Simanchalajena, Snotchstar!, Squirreljml, Srinivas.zinka, Stepshep, Symon, Sawomir Biaa, TLSupper, TStein, Tarquin, Template namespace initialisation script, That Guy, From That Show!, The Thing That Should Not Be, Tobias Hoevekamp, WhiteHatLurker, WikiMaster64, Woohookitty, , 110 anonymous edits Gradient Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=392779752 Contributors: .:Ajvol:., 16@r, 24.176.164.xxx, ADDFG Spy, Adam1213, Adhanali, Alansohn, Alberto da Calvairate, AndPud, Andrea Censi, Andrei Stroe, Andres, Anonymous Dissident, Atshields0, Baccyak4H, Bdesham, Bdmy, Beetstra, Ben pcc, BenFrantzDale, Blazotron, Bushido Hacks, Charles Gaudette, Charles Matthews, Ched Davis, Chendy, Christopher Parham, Conversion script, Curps, DGJM, Daniele.tampieri, Dankelley, Dave souza, Dbfirs, Dbtfz, DerrickOswald, Dhaluza, Diggers2004, Donzilla24, Dsaf1234, Dspradau, Dysprosia, EconoPhysicist, Edudobay, Edward321, Eigenlambda, El C, Ellywa, FilipeS, Fintler, Fintor, Gaius Cornelius, Geometry guy, Giftlite, Harshalgem, Highlandwolf, HitchHiker42, Holmansf, Iamhove, Imrahil, Innumerate1979, Inquist, Isnow, J.delanoy, JForget, Jim.belk, JohnOwens, Joris Gillis, Juloml, Kamix, Kanie, Kelly Martin, Kevin Baas, Knockwood, Komap, Kostmo, Krich, Kubigula, LOL, Lethe, Lhf, Lysdexia, Madmath789, Martin451, Martynas Patasius, MathMartin, Melimelo123, Mendaliv, Michael Hardy, Minhtung91, Mo-Al, Mwtoews, Nbarth, Netheril96, Newbi, Nick C, Oleg Alexandrov, Oli Filth, Oxymoron83, PAR, Paga19141, Pak21, Paolo.dL, Pascalromon, Patrick, Paul August, Peak, Peter Horn, Petr Kopa, Pip2andahalf, Plugwash, Pm5, Poochy, Pseudomonas, R'n'B, ReiVaX, Reirobros, Rossami, Rup31ak, Salix alba, Sam Derbyshire, Sam Hocevar, Saravask, Saretakis, Sbacle, Seaphoto, Silly rabbit, Simiprof, Slawekb, Snowolf, Solarapex, SparrowsWing, Spelai, Spoon!, SteelSoul, StradivariusTV, Subsonicpixel, Sverdrup, Sawomir Biay, TStein, Tarquin, Template namespace initialisation script, Thalesfernandes, The Anome, Tim Starling, Tobias Hoevekamp, Toby Bartels, Tommy2010, TravisTX, Unyoyega, User A1, Vboo-belarus, Voidxor, Waggers, Waldelefant, Whosasking, Wwoods, Xtsn, Youandme, Zeno Gantner, ZeroOne, Zzuuzz, , , 224 anonymous edits Divergence Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=406657676 Contributors: 16@r, 24.176.164.xxx, A. B., ALittleSlow, Ae77, Akriasas, Anakata, Andres, Andres Agudelo, Anonymous Dissident, Apankrat, Arthur Rubin, AutomaticWriting, AvicAWB, AxelBoldt, Azmiriam, Benjaminevans82, Bryan Derksen, Caiyu, Camiflower, Cataphract, Charles Matthews, Closedmouth, Conversion script, Dnwq, DogFog, Dysprosia, Edgerck, Eigenlambda, Emote, Epbr123, Erudecorp, Etola, Etxrge, Fresheneesz, Giftlite, Greensan, Headbomb, Helixblue, Hellisp, Holmansf, Hypernurb, Icairns, Innumerate1979, JJ Harrison, Jeff3000, Kamix, Kiteinthewind, Kri, Loodog, Lyctc, MFNickster, Mah159, Martynas Patasius, Matthew Yeager, Mo-Al, Ms2ger, Msreeharsha, Mxn, OlEnglish, Oleg Alexandrov, Omenge, Patrick, Paul Matthews, Paulck, Pax85, Pj.de.bruin, Quadell, RAult, Rama's Arrow, Rjwilmsi, Roastytoast, Rob Hooft, Sam Hocevar, Sct72, Solarapex, StradivariusTV, Sverdrup, Sawomir Biay, TStein, Tarquin, Tbsmith, Tcnuk, Template namespace initialisation script, The Anome, Thehotelambush, Threshold, Tim Starling, Tobias Hoevekamp, Trovatore, Tschong, Voidxor, Wile E. 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