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Einstein summation convention in deriving Coulomb's law

Physics Asked by Physics Enthusiast on February 4, 2021

Schwartz’s QFT equation (3.43) reads

$$ mathcal{L} = – frac{1}{4} (partial_mu A_nu – partial_nu A_mu)^2 – A_mu J_mu. tag{3.43}$$

Does the contraction of $mu$ on the last term carry over to the first term? In particular, is it the same as saying:

$$ mathcal{L} = – frac{1}{4} (partial_t A_nu + partial_x A_nu + partial_y A_nu + partial_z A_nu – partial_nu A_t – partial_nu A_x – partial_nu A_y – partial_nu A_z)^2 $$
$$- A_t J_t – A_x J_x – A_y J_y – A_z J_z~? $$

One Answer

In Schwartz’ unfortunate all-indices-are-lower notation, $(partial_mu A_nu - partial_nu A_mu)^2$ means $(partial_mu A_nu - partial_nu A_mu)(partial_mu A_nu - partial_nu A_mu)$. You contract both indices, $mu$ and $nu$, to get 16 terms (or 64, depending on what you’re counting as a term).

Contractions in one term of $mathcal{L}$ (or anywhere else) have nothing to do with contractions in another term. Nothing about contractions “carries over”.

Answered by G. Smith on February 4, 2021

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