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Suppose that $A^i$ is a rank 1 tensor.

Is there a test for checking if \begin{equation} A^i = \partial_j\tau^{ji} \end{equation}

where $\tau^{ij} = \tau^{ji}$?

An analogous test would be checking if a vector is the gradient of some scalar by taking its curl.

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    I think that the answer to this question is trivial: such a symmetric tensor always exists, because the tensor in question has 6 degrees of freedom. I haven't gotten around to proving this, yet. If somebody else wants to do this, please, be my guest.2017-02-28

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