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During my masters my prof. mentioned that the Youngs' tableau method can be used to calculate the number independent components of any arbitrary rank symmetric tensor in arbitrary dimensions. I wasn't much familiar with the concepts of Youngs tableau method back then. Now I am reading those methods and can't understand how they can be used to calculate the number of independent components of a symmetric tensor. Can anyone explain this concept or suggest a book or article to understand this in details?

Update after the comment: Suppose we have a completely symmetric rank 3 tensor in 4 dimensions, can you show how many independent components it would require. I know about the formulae to obtain this number using combinatorics. But I want to do it using Youngs’ tableau.

Qmechanic
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The independent components of a tensor whose symmetry type is given by a given Young diagram each correspond to a semistandard tableau with that same shape. And the number of semistandard tableaux for a given Young diagram can be found via a hook length formula: $$ N = \prod_{(i,j) \in \lambda} \frac{ k - i + j}{h_\lambda(i,j)} $$ where (using the English conventions for Young diagrams)

  • $k$ is the range of entries allowed in the tableau (in your case, the dimension of the underlying vector space)
  • $i$ and $j$ are the index of the row and column, respectively (numbered starting from the top left, beginning with 1)
  • $h_\lambda(i,j)$ is the hook length associated with the cell $(i,j)$; it is found by counting all the cells that are directly below the cell $(i,j)$ and all the cells that are directly to the right of $(i,j)$, and adding 1 for the cell itself. In other words, if you draw a line that comes from below the diagram, hits $(i,j)$, and then "hooks" to the right and exits the diagram, $h_\lambda(i,j)$ is the number of cells you passed through.

So, for a general $k$ and a Young diagram consisting of three cells in a single row, this becomes $$ N = \underbrace{\left( \frac{k - 1 + 1}{3} \right)}_{(i,j) = (1,1)} \underbrace{\left( \frac{k - 1 + 2}{2} \right)}_{(i,j) = (1,2)} \underbrace{\left( \frac{k - 1 + 3}{1} \right)}_{(i,j) = (1,3)} = \frac{k(k+1)(k+2)}{6} $$ which gives $N = 20$ when $k = 4$, as you found.

As another example, for the mixed-symmetry Young diagram with three cells, we have $$ N = \underbrace{\left( \frac{k - 1 + 1}{3} \right)}_{(i,j) = (1,1)} \underbrace{\left( \frac{k - 1 + 2}{1} \right)}_{(i,j) = (1,2)} \underbrace{\left( \frac{k - 2 + 1}{1} \right)}_{(i,j) = (2,1)} = \frac{k(k+1)(k-1)}{3}. $$ (This also happens to yield $N = 20$ when $k = 4$, but this is just a coincidence; for general $k$, the dimensionality of this representation is different.)