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Vector Laplacian Navigation Search

The vector Laplacian is a differential operator that applies to vector fields, returning a vector quantity. It is similar to the scalar Laplacian, which applies to scalar fields and returns a scalar. In Cartesian coordinates, the vector Laplacian of a vector field V is defined as the vector of the scalar Laplacians of each component of V. Examples of its use include the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible fluid flow and the wave equation for electric fields derived from Maxwell's equations.

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83 views3 pages

Vector Laplacian Navigation Search

The vector Laplacian is a differential operator that applies to vector fields, returning a vector quantity. It is similar to the scalar Laplacian, which applies to scalar fields and returns a scalar. In Cartesian coordinates, the vector Laplacian of a vector field V is defined as the vector of the scalar Laplacians of each component of V. Examples of its use include the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible fluid flow and the wave equation for electric fields derived from Maxwell's equations.

Uploaded by

Danilson Paulo Melicio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Vector Laplacian

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In mathematics and physics, the vector Laplace operator, denoted by , named after Pierre-
Simon Laplace, is a differential operator defined over a vector field. The vector Laplacian is
similar to the scalar Laplacian. Whereas the scalar Laplacian applies to a scalar field and returns
a scalar quantity, the vector Laplacian applies to a vector field, returning a vector quantity. When
computed in orthonormal Cartesian coordinates, the returned vector field is equal to the vector
field of the scalar Laplacian applied to each vector component.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Definition
o 1.1 Generalization
 2 Use in physics
 3 References

Definition[edit]

The vector Laplacian of a vector field is defined as

In Cartesian coordinates, this reduces to the much simpler form:

where , , and are the components of . This can be seen to be a special case of
Lagrange's formula; see Vector triple product.

For expressions of the vector Laplacian in other coordinate systems see Del in cylindrical and
spherical coordinates.

Generalization[edit]
The Laplacian of any tensor field ("tensor" includes scalar and vector) is defined as the
divergence of the gradient of the tensor:

For the special case where is a scalar (a tensor of degree zero), the Laplacian takes on the
familiar form.

If is a vector (a tensor of first degree), the gradient is a covariant derivative which results in
a tensor of second degree, and the divergence of this is again a vector. The formula for the vector
Laplacian above may be used to avoid tensor math and may be shown to be equivalent to the
divergence of the Jacobian matrix shown below for the gradient of a vector:

And, in the same manner, a dot product, which evaluates to a vector, of a vector by the gradient
of another vector (a tensor of 2nd degree) can be seen as a product of matrices:

This identity is a coordinate dependent result, and is not general.

Use in physics[edit]
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An example of the usage of the vector Laplacian is the Navier-Stokes equations for a Newtonian
incompressible flow:

where the term with the vector Laplacian of the velocity field represents the viscous stresses
in the fluid.

Another example is the wave equation for the electric field that can be derived from the
Maxwell's equations in the absence of charges and currents:
The previous equation can also be written as:

where

is the D'Alembertian, used in the Klein–Gordon equation.

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