Tensors
Tensors are mathematical objects that give generalizations of vectors and matrices. In
Mathematica, a tensor is represented as a set of lists, nested to a certain number of levels. The nesting level is the
rank of the tensor.
| rank 0 | scalar |
| rank 1 | vector |
| rank 2 | matrix |
| rank k | rank k tensor |
Interpretations of nested lists.
A tensor of rank
k is essentially a
k-dimensional table of values. To be a true rank
k tensor, it must be possible to arrange the elements in the table in a
k-dimensional cuboidal array. There can be no holes or protrusions in the cuboid.
The
indices that specify a particular element in the tensor correspond to the coordinates in the cuboid. The
dimensions of the tensor correspond to the side lengths of the cuboid.
One simple way that a rank
k tensor can arise is in giving a table of values for a function of
k variables. In physics, the tensors that occur typically have indices which run over the possible directions in space or spacetime. Notice, however, that there is no built-in notion of covariant and contravariant tensor indices in
Mathematica: you have to set these up explicitly using metric tensors.
| Table[f,{i1,n1},{i2,n2},...,{ik,nk}] |
| create an  × ×...× tensor whose elements are the values of f |
| Array[a,{n1,n2,...,nk}] | create an  × ×...× tensor with elements given by applying a to each set of indices |
| ArrayQ[t,n] | test whether t is a tensor of rank n |
| Dimensions[t] | give a list of the dimensions of a tensor |
| ArrayDepth[t] | find the rank of a tensor |
| MatrixForm[t] | print with the elements of t arranged in a two-dimensional array |
Functions for creating and testing the structure of tensors.
| Out[1]= |  |
This is another way to produce the same tensor.
| Out[2]= |  |
MatrixForm displays the elements of the tensor in a two-dimensional array. You can think of the array as being a 2×3 matrix of column vectors.
Out[3]//MatrixForm= |
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| Out[4]= |  |
Here is the
element of the tensor.
| Out[5]= |  |
| Out[6]= |  |
The rank of a tensor is equal to the number of indices needed to specify each element. You can pick out subtensors by using a smaller number of indices.
| Transpose[t] | transpose the first two indices in a tensor |
| Transpose[t,{p1,p2,...}] | transpose the indices in a tensor so that the k becomes the   |
| Tr[t,f] | form the generalized trace of the tensor t |
| Outer[f,t1,t2] | form the generalized outer product of the tensors  and  with "multiplication operator" f |
| t1.t2 | form the dot product of  and  (last index of  contracted with first index of  ) |
| Inner[f,t1,t2,g] | form the generalized inner product, with "multiplication operator" f and "addition operator" g |
Tensor manipulation operations.
You can think of a rank
k tensor as having
k "slots" into which you insert indices. Applying
Transpose is effectively a way of reordering these slots. If you think of the elements of a tensor as forming a
k-dimensional cuboid, you can view
Transpose as effectively rotating (and possibly reflecting) the cuboid.
In the most general case,
Transpose allows you to specify an arbitrary reordering to apply to the indices of a tensor. The function
Transpose
gives you a new tensor
such that the value of
is given by
.
If you originally had an
×
×
...×
tensor, then by applying
Transpose, you will get an
×
×
...×
tensor.
Here is a matrix that you can also think of as a 2×3 tensor.
| Out[7]= |  |
Applying
Transpose gives you a 3×2 tensor.
Transpose effectively interchanges the two "slots" for tensor indices.
| Out[8]= |  |
The element
in the original tensor becomes the element
in the transposed tensor.
| Out[9]= |  |
This produces a 2×3×1×2 tensor.
| Out[10]= |  |
This transposes the first two levels of
.
| Out[11]= |  |
The result is a 3×2×1×2 tensor.
| Out[12]= |  |
If you have a tensor that contains lists of the same length at different levels, then you can use
Transpose to effectively collapse different levels.
This collapses all three levels, giving a list of the elements on the "main diagonal".
| Out[13]= |  |
This collapses only the first two levels.
| Out[14]= |  |
You can also use
Tr to extract diagonal elements of a tensor.
This forms the ordinary trace of a rank 3 tensor.
| Out[15]= |  |
Here is a generalized trace, with elements combined into a list.
| Out[16]= |  |
This combines diagonal elements only down to level 2.
| Out[17]= |  |
Outer products, and their generalizations, are a way of building higher-rank tensors from lower-rank ones. Outer products are also sometimes known as direct, tensor, or Kronecker products.
From a structural point of view, the tensor you get from
Outer
has a copy of the structure of
u inserted at the "position" of each element in
t. The elements in the resulting structure are obtained by combining elements of
t and
u using the function
f.
This gives the "outer
" of two vectors. The result is a matrix.
| Out[18]= |  |
If you take the "outer
" of a length 3 vector with a length 2 vector, you get a 3×2 matrix.
| Out[19]= |  |
The result of taking the "outer
" of a 2×2 matrix and a length 3 vector is a 2×2×3 tensor.
| Out[20]= |  |
Here are the dimensions of the tensor.
| Out[21]= |  |
If you take the generalized outer product of an
×
×
...×
tensor and an
×
×
...×
tensor, you get an
×
...×
×
×
...×
tensor. If the original tensors have ranks
r and
s, your result will be a rank
tensor.
In terms of indices, the result of applying
Outer to two tensors
and
is the tensor
with elements
.
In doing standard tensor calculations, the most common function
f to use in
Outer is
Times, corresponding to the standard outer product.
Particularly in doing combinatorial calculations, however, it is often convenient to take
f to be
List. Using
Outer, you can then get combinations of all possible elements in one tensor, with all possible elements in the other.
In constructing
Outer
you effectively insert a copy of
u at every point in
t. To form
Inner
, you effectively combine and collapse the last dimension of
t and the first dimension of
u. The idea is to take an
×
×
...×
tensor and an
×
×
...×
tensor, with
, and get an
×
×
...×
×
×
...×
tensor as the result.
The simplest examples are with vectors. If you apply
Inner to two vectors of equal length, you get a scalar.
Inner
gives a generalization of the usual scalar product, with
f playing the role of multiplication, and
g playing the role of addition.
This gives a generalization of the standard scalar product of two vectors.
| Out[22]= |  |
This gives a generalization of a matrix product.
| Out[23]= |  |
| Out[24]= |  |
| Out[25]= |  |
This gives a 3×2×3×1 tensor.
| Out[26]= |  |
Here are the dimensions of the result.
| Out[27]= |  |
You can think of
Inner as performing a "contraction" of the last index of one tensor with the first index of another. If you want to perform contractions across other pairs of indices, you can do so by first transposing the appropriate indices into the first or last position, then applying
Inner, and then transposing the result back.
In many applications of tensors, you need to insert signs to implement antisymmetry. The function
Signature
, which gives the signature of a permutation, is often useful for this purpose.
| Outer[f,t1,t2,...] | form a generalized outer product by combining the lowest-level elements of  |
| Outer[f,t1,t2,...,n] | treat only sublists at level n as separate elements |
| Outer[f,t1,t2,...,n1,n2,...] | treat only sublists at level  in  as separate elements |
| Inner[f,t1,t2,g] | form a generalized inner product using the lowest-level elements of  |
| Inner[f,t1,t2,g,n] | contract index n of the first tensor with the first index of the second tensor |
Treating only certain sublists in tensors as separate elements.
Here every single symbol is treated as a separate element.
| Out[28]= |  |
But here only sublists at level 1 are treated as separate elements.
| Out[29]= |  |
Flattening block tensors.
Here is a block matrix (a matrix of matrices that can be viewed as blocks that fit edge to edge within a larger matrix).
Out[30]//TableForm= |
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Here is the matrix formed by piecing the blocks together.
Out[31]//TableForm= |
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