plane perpendicular to ˆn) are inverted by the 180
◦
rotation and hence must satisfy
R(ˆn, π)~v = −~v.
Since ˆn is a real vector of unit length, it is determined only up to an overall sign
by eq. (10) when its corresponding eigenvalue 1 is unique. This sign ambiguity is
immaterial in Case 2 in light of eq. (6). The sign ambiguity in Case 3 cannot be
resolved without further analysis. To make further progress, in Section 3 we shall
obtain the general expression for the three dimensional rotation matrix R(ˆn, θ).
3. An explicit formula for the matrix elements of a general 3 × 3 rotation
matrix
In this section, the matrix elements of R(ˆn, θ) will be denoted by R
ij
. Since R(ˆn, θ)
describes a rotation by an angle θ about an axis ˆn, the formula for R
ij
that we seek
will depend on θ and on t he coordinates of ˆn = (n
1
, n
2
, n
3
) with respect to a fixed
Cartesian coordinate system. Note t hat since ˆn is a unit vector, it follows that:
n
2
1
+ n
2
2
+ n
2
3
= 1 . (12)
Using the techniques of tensor algebra, we can derive the formula fo r R
ij
in the
following way. We can regard R
ij
as the components of a second-rank Cartesian tensor.
5
Likewise, the n
i
are components of a vector (equivalently, a first-rank tensor). Two
other important quantities for the analysis are the invariant tensors δ
ij
(the Kronecker
delta) and ǫ
ijk
(the Levi-Civita tensor). If we invoke the covariance of tensor equations,
then one must be able to express R
ij
in terms of a second-rank tensor composed of n
i
,
δ
ij
and ǫ
ijk
, a s there are no other tensors in the problem that could provide a source
of indices. Thus, the form of the formula for R
ij
must be:
R
ij
= aδ
ij
+ bn
i
n
j
+ cǫ
ijk
n
k
, (13)
where there is an implicit sum over the index k in the third term of eq. (13).
6
The
numbers a, b and c a r e real scalar quantities. As such, a, b and c are functions of θ,
since the rotatio n angle is the only non-trivial scalar quantity in this problem. If
we also allow for transformations between right-handed and left-handed orthonor ma l
coordinate systems, then R
ij
and δ
ij
are true second-rank tensors and ǫ
ijk
is a third-rank
pseudotensor. Thus, t o ensure that eq. (13) is covariant with respect t o transformations
between two bases tha t are related by either a proper or an improper rotation, we
conclude that a and b are tr ue scalars, a nd the product cˆn is a pseudovector.
7
5
This statement is justified in Appendix C to these notes.
6
We follow the Einstein summa tion convention in these notes. That is, there is an implicit sum
over any pair of repeated indices in the present and all subsequent formulae.
7
Under inversion of the coordinate system, θ → −θ and ˆn → −ˆn. Since 0 ≤ θ ≤ π, one must then
use eq. (4) to flip the signs of both θ and ˆn to r e present the rotation R (ˆn, θ) in the new coordinate
system. Hence, the signs of θ and ˆn effectively do not change under the inversion of the coordinate
system. That is, any scalar function of θ is a true scalar a nd ˆn is a pseudovector. It follows that the
product cˆn is a ps eudovector as asserted in the text above.
4