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An alternative definition: A smooth vector field on a manifold is a linear map : () such that is a derivation: () = + for all , (). [ 3 ] If the manifold M {\displaystyle M} is smooth or analytic —that is, the change of coordinates is smooth (analytic)—then one can make sense of the notion of smooth (analytic) vector fields.
A field can be classified as a scalar field, a vector field, a spinor field or a tensor field according to whether the represented physical quantity is a scalar, a vector, a spinor, or a tensor, respectively. A field has a consistent tensorial character wherever it is defined: i.e. a field cannot be a scalar field somewhere and a vector field ...
In vector calculus, a conservative vector field is a vector field that is the gradient of some function. [1] A conservative vector field has the property that its line integral is path independent; the choice of path between two points does not change the value of the line integral. Path independence of the line integral is equivalent to the ...
A vector field is a vector-valued function that, generally, has a domain of the same dimension (as a manifold) as its codomain, Conservative vector field, a vector field that is the gradient of a scalar potential field; Hamiltonian vector field, a vector field defined for any energy function or Hamiltonian
A vector field is a special case of a vector-valued function, whose domain's dimension has no relation to the dimension of its range; for example, the position vector of a space curve is defined only for smaller subset of the ambient space.
An example of a solenoidal vector field, (,) = (,) In vector calculus a solenoidal vector field (also known as an incompressible vector field , a divergence-free vector field , or a transverse vector field ) is a vector field v with divergence zero at all points in the field: ∇ ⋅ v = 0. {\displaystyle \nabla \cdot \mathbf {v} =0.}
In the study of mathematics and especially differential geometry, fundamental vector fields are an instrument that describes the infinitesimal behaviour of a smooth Lie group action on a smooth manifold. Such vector fields find important applications in the study of Lie theory, symplectic geometry, and the study of Hamiltonian group actions.
The vector potential admitted by a solenoidal field is not unique. If is a vector potential for , then so is +, where is any continuously differentiable scalar function. . This follows from the fact that the curl of the gradient is ze