We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
A capital gamma with one raised and two lowered indices.
Also known as: Christoffel symbols, Connection coefficients, Gamma with three indices
Christoffel symbols encode how coordinates twist, and they are not tensors — they can be made to vanish at any single point by choosing coordinates, which is the mathematical statement of the equivalence principle. That non-tensor status is their defining oddity.
Denotes the Christoffel symbols, the connection coefficients describing how vectors change under parallel transport.
Contexts: Laboratory
Are not tensors: they can be set to zero at any chosen point by a change of coordinates, which is the equivalence principle in mathematical form.
Contexts: Laboratory
Appear in the geodesic equation, where they play the role gravitational force plays in Newtonian mechanics.
Contexts: Laboratory
A capital Greek gamma — a horizontal stroke with a vertical stroke descending from its left end — carrying one raised and two lowered small index letters.