Extensions and Applications of Stein-Weiss Operators to the Study of Traceless Symmetric Tensors

Abstract

First-order differential operators arising from the representation-theoretic decomposition of the covariant derivative play a central role in Riemannian geometry. In this paper, we study Stein-Weiss $O(n)$-gradients acting on covariant symmetric trace-free tensors of arbitrary rank $p \ge 2$. By analyzing the decomposition of $T^*M \otimes S_0^p(M)$ into its $O(n)$-irreducible components, we explicitly describe the corresponding generalized gradients and compute Weitzenbock formulas for their adjoint compositions. These results extend Bouguignon four-dimensional formulas for $p = 2$ and generalize previous work of other authors to higher-rank symmetric tensors. The formulas obtained provide a unified framework for understanding second-order Stein-Weiss operators and yield tools applicable to deformation complexes, curvature estimates, and stability problems in geometric analysis. The article continues the authors' earlier investigations of Stein-Weiss operators on natural tensor bundles.