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Talk:D'Alembert operator

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When I first visited this page I thought my browser was not capable of displaying the symbol. I eventually figured out that the symbol really is a featureless empty square. I wonder if anyone can suggest a way to make this more obvious. I know it says "the four sides of the box representing..." in
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This bothered me as well. I was hoping that - by analogy with the greek capital delta - there existed some D'Alembertian character with one or two bolded edges, however I could not find one in use or in any of the common LaTeX sets. Whilst a greek-ish D'Alembertian character has been proposed at
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I also agree. When I first saw it I was uncertain if it was a symbol or error. Put the text caveat right under the equation or in a similarly obvious spot. Each section needs a caveat because many people don't read the whole article - they skip right to the section they are interested in.
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I agree, I saw this operator on another page and followed the link to see what it "should" look like. Maybe add some bold text at the start of the article to let those of us who are "too familiar" with computers know that the square box isn't a browser bug!
828: 518: 676: 421: 345: 1072:), there sadly doesn't really seem to be any precedent beyond speculation that would empower anyone to use a less ambiguous symbol. I will however add a comment in the lead that will point out that the symbol is indeed a square. 1032:; in my browsers the Ge'ez and Runic symbols are not rendered) so it is reasonable to expect that a lot of users are still encountering featureless empty squares in aticles that use special symbols, and will be suspicious of 742: 266: 1369:{\displaystyle \Box ={\frac {1}{c^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}-{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial x^{2}}}-{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial y^{2}}}-{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial z^{2}}}} 1447: 140: 596:. They are always recognized as the same, since the box isn't used for anything else and you never need to square the D'Alembertian. The sign convention is less clear, but most of the 682:
I seem to recall this is also Griffiths's definition, although not Jackson's. The answer is that there is no answer, but we can at least try to be consistent within wikipedia. --
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I've rewritten the article to only mention all alternate notation, but only use the Delta-symbol for the Laplacian which the d'Alembertian is. Comments welcome. --
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My notes (3rd year undergrad course on Relativistic Electrodynamics, Cambridge University) make the remark in a footnote that strictly '4-Gradient' is
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is simply the Laplacian in Minkowski space. Of course signs are subject to conventions, but the square I have never seen before.
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This may be obvious, but I've had a devil of a time confirming it... The D'Alembert Operator is named for
268:, written without extra square and with this choice of signs, in most of today's math/physics literature. 39: 83: 1185: 1160: 1133: 1107: 1189: 600:
articles are using the convention where the minus sign goes on the time parts, so then it would be
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on Knowledge. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
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use that notation. Currently the notation section does not mention this, so I will add it in --
1508: 889: 853: 823:{\displaystyle \Box ^{2}={\frac {1}{c^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}\nabla ^{2}} 683: 552: 185: 1069: 969:, correct? Seems like that should be mentioned somewhere if it is (as I assume it to) true.-- 513:{\displaystyle \Delta :=(\mathrm {d} +\mathrm {d} ^{*})^{2}=|_{\mathbf {R} ^{3}}-\nabla ^{2}} 1057: 1029: 1035: 877: 833: 579: 523: 165: 1452: 970: 1544: 1476: 1073: 980: 918: 671:{\displaystyle \nabla ^{2}-{\frac {1}{c^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}} 416:{\displaystyle {\frac {1}{c^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}-\nabla ^{2}} 340:{\displaystyle \nabla ^{2}-{\frac {1}{c^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}} 1188:
in Minkowski space. Some precision or clarification on that issue would be helpful.
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I think it should definitely be mentioned that the operator is often written as
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D^2 + m or D^2 - m is a matter of convention, because the sign of D^2 is. --
737:{\displaystyle \Box ={\frac {1}{c}}{\frac {\partial }{\partial t}}-\nabla } 830:. It goes on to remark that some texts refer to the d'Alembertian as 1003:
I note that some pages have a tag warning readers of this issue:
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Something is amiss. I found a website claiming that although
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This is correct. I have added a link to the eponymous fellow.
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and this warning is still often necessary (see examples at
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The article has a single reference and the link is dead
576:, while Jackson, the physics standard on E&M, uses 261:{\displaystyle \Box =\partial _{t}^{2}-\nabla _{x}^{2}} 1455: 1382: 1217: 1163: 1136: 1038: 892: 856: 836: 750: 696: 608: 582: 555: 526: 433: 353: 277: 218: 188: 168: 101:, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of 1467: 1441: 1368: 1176: 1149: 1044: 905: 869: 842: 822: 736: 670: 588: 568: 532: 512: 415: 339: 260: 201: 174: 1184:isn't and in principle, one is actually using a 549:So far as big physics texts go, Griffiths uses 1442:{\displaystyle g=\mathrm {diag} (1,-1,-1,-1)} 8: 19: 1376:, but if we have fixed the time metric as 1105: 47: 1490:What do you mean? It is not obvious that 1454: 1389: 1381: 1357: 1343: 1337: 1325: 1311: 1305: 1293: 1279: 1273: 1261: 1247: 1241: 1233: 1224: 1216: 1168: 1162: 1141: 1135: 1037: 1000:the text but that's pretty easy to miss. 897: 891: 861: 855: 835: 814: 801: 787: 781: 773: 764: 755: 749: 713: 703: 695: 659: 645: 639: 631: 622: 613: 607: 581: 560: 554: 525: 504: 489: 484: 482: 477: 467: 457: 452: 443: 432: 407: 391: 377: 371: 363: 354: 352: 328: 314: 308: 300: 291: 282: 276: 252: 247: 234: 229: 217: 193: 187: 167: 995:Symbol looks like an undefined character 1021:question marks, boxes, or other symbols 49: 7: 95:This article is within the scope of 38:It is of interest to the following 1500:? Later on, if you keep reading, 1399: 1396: 1393: 1390: 1350: 1340: 1318: 1308: 1286: 1276: 1254: 1244: 1165: 1138: 811: 794: 784: 731: 719: 715: 652: 642: 610: 501: 453: 444: 434: 404: 384: 374: 321: 311: 279: 244: 226: 14: 1556:Mid-priority mathematics articles 913:since sources like Griffiths and 115:Knowledge:WikiProject Mathematics 1551:Start-Class mathematics articles 1177:{\displaystyle \partial ^{\mu }} 1150:{\displaystyle \partial _{\mu }} 485: 118:Template:WikiProject Mathematics 82: 72: 51: 20: 135:This article has been rated as 1436: 1403: 478: 464: 440: 1: 927:04:49, 13 December 2009 (UTC) 109:and see a list of open tasks. 1537:19:27, 17 October 2022 (UTC) 956:09:33, 23 October 2005 (UTC) 942:08:56, 23 October 2005 (UTC) 1572: 1120:23:32, 26 April 2019 (UTC) 881:10:08, 12 April 2006 (UTC) 1517:14:05, 22 June 2016 (UTC) 1485:12:55, 22 June 2016 (UTC) 1198:08:24, 14 July 2015 (UTC) 989:05:49, 29 July 2008 (UTC) 906:{\displaystyle \Box ^{2}} 870:{\displaystyle \Box ^{2}} 744:and the d'Alembertian is 569:{\displaystyle \Box ^{2}} 202:{\displaystyle \Box ^{2}} 134: 67: 46: 1099:16:18, 4 July 2012 (UTC) 1082:06:58, 7 June 2010 (UTC) 1062:21:31, 6 June 2010 (UTC) 974:19:50, 15 May 2007 (UTC) 544:16:18, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC) 423:? Sources differ again. 141:project's priority scale 967:Jean le Rond d'Alembert 686:20:39, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC) 98:WikiProject Mathematics 1469: 1443: 1370: 1178: 1151: 1126:Covariant derivative?= 1046: 1009:This article contains 907: 871: 844: 824: 738: 672: 590: 570: 534: 514: 417: 341: 262: 203: 176: 28:This article is rated 1470: 1444: 1371: 1179: 1152: 1047: 1045:{\displaystyle \Box } 947:conflicting notations 908: 872: 845: 843:{\displaystyle \Box } 825: 739: 673: 591: 589:{\displaystyle \Box } 571: 535: 533:{\displaystyle \Box } 515: 418: 342: 263: 204: 177: 175:{\displaystyle \Box } 1453: 1380: 1215: 1186:covariant derivative 1161: 1134: 1036: 890: 854: 834: 748: 694: 606: 580: 553: 524: 431: 351: 275: 216: 186: 166: 121:mathematics articles 1468:{\displaystyle c=1} 257: 239: 1507:set equal to one. 1465: 1439: 1366: 1174: 1147: 1042: 1011:special characters 903: 867: 840: 820: 734: 668: 586: 566: 530: 510: 413: 337: 258: 243: 225: 199: 172: 90:Mathematics portal 34:content assessment 1364: 1332: 1300: 1268: 1239: 1211:Here we can read 1122: 1110:comment added by 1017:rendering support 808: 779: 726: 711: 666: 637: 398: 369: 335: 306: 155: 154: 151: 150: 147: 146: 1563: 1499: 1474: 1472: 1471: 1466: 1448: 1446: 1445: 1440: 1402: 1375: 1373: 1372: 1367: 1365: 1363: 1362: 1361: 1348: 1347: 1338: 1333: 1331: 1330: 1329: 1316: 1315: 1306: 1301: 1299: 1298: 1297: 1284: 1283: 1274: 1269: 1267: 1266: 1265: 1252: 1251: 1242: 1240: 1238: 1237: 1225: 1183: 1181: 1180: 1175: 1173: 1172: 1156: 1154: 1153: 1148: 1146: 1145: 1051: 1049: 1048: 1043: 1030:Unicode_and_HTML 912: 910: 909: 904: 902: 901: 876: 874: 873: 868: 866: 865: 849: 847: 846: 841: 829: 827: 826: 821: 819: 818: 809: 807: 806: 805: 792: 791: 782: 780: 778: 777: 765: 760: 759: 743: 741: 740: 735: 727: 725: 714: 712: 704: 677: 675: 674: 669: 667: 665: 664: 663: 650: 649: 640: 638: 636: 635: 623: 618: 617: 595: 593: 592: 587: 575: 573: 572: 567: 565: 564: 539: 537: 536: 531: 519: 517: 516: 511: 509: 508: 496: 495: 494: 493: 488: 481: 472: 471: 462: 461: 456: 447: 422: 420: 419: 414: 412: 411: 399: 397: 396: 395: 382: 381: 372: 370: 368: 367: 355: 346: 344: 343: 338: 336: 334: 333: 332: 319: 318: 309: 307: 305: 304: 292: 287: 286: 271:Is it equal to 267: 265: 264: 259: 256: 251: 238: 233: 208: 206: 205: 200: 198: 197: 181: 179: 178: 173: 158:Super 2 or notΒ ? 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191:β—» 170:β—» 1531:( 1511:( 1502:c 1493:x 1479:( 1463:1 1460:= 1457:c 1437:) 1434:1 1428:, 1425:1 1419:, 1416:1 1410:, 1407:1 1404:( 1400:g 1397:a 1394:i 1391:d 1387:= 1384:g 1359:2 1355:z 1345:2 1327:2 1323:y 1313:2 1295:2 1291:x 1281:2 1263:2 1259:t 1249:2 1235:2 1231:c 1227:1 1222:= 1205:c 1192:( 1114:( 1093:( 1076:( 1056:( 1023:. 1013:. 983:( 921:( 899:2 863:2 816:2 803:2 799:t 789:2 775:2 771:c 767:1 762:= 757:2 723:t 709:c 706:1 701:= 661:2 657:t 647:2 633:2 629:c 625:1 615:2 562:2 506:2 491:3 486:R 479:| 474:= 469:2 465:) 454:d 449:+ 445:d 441:( 409:2 393:2 389:t 379:2 365:2 361:c 357:1 330:2 326:t 316:2 302:2 298:c 294:1 284:2 254:2 249:x 236:2 231:t 223:= 195:2 143:. 42::

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MarSch
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Laura Scudder
MikeMorley
10:08, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
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talk
04:49, 13 December 2009 (UTC)
MarSch
08:56, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
MarSch
09:33, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Falcorian
19:50, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Eutactic

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