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Sorry if this is a too basic question, but I didn't find an answer anywhere:

The connection Laplacian, or Bochner Laplacian, is the differential operator acting on $k$-tensor fields $T\in\Gamma^{\infty}(T^{\ast}M^{\otimes_{s}2})$ given by $$\Delta:=\mathrm{tr}(\nabla^{2}T)$$ Now, I am confused about the coordinate expression: Many references, for example this nice lecture notes by L. Nicolaescu, state that $$\Delta:=g^{ij}(\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k})\tag{$\ast$}$$ where $\nabla$ denotes the Levi-Civita connection. However, I am a bit puzzled by the second term. For example, lets say I'll take the specific case $k=0$. Then, using formula ($\ast$) I get $$\Delta=g^{ij}(\underbrace{\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f}_{\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f)=g^{ij}\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-2\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f$$ which is wrong, since we should obtain the Laplace-Beltrami operator $$\Delta_{\mathrm{LB}}f=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f)$$ In other words, the fact 2 is different.

I assume it is just a missunderstanding of notation or terminology. Any help appreciated.

Sorry if this is a too basic question, but I didn't find an answer anywhere:

The connection Laplacian, or Bochner Laplacian, is the differential operator acting on $k$-tensor fields $T\in\Gamma^{\infty}(T^{\ast}M^{\otimes_{s}2})$ given by $$\Delta:=\mathrm{tr}(\nabla^{2}T)$$ Now, I am confused about the coordinate expression: Many references, for example this nice lecture notes by L. Nicolaescu, state that $$\Delta:=g^{ij}(\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k})\tag{$\ast$}$$ where $\nabla$ denotes the Levi-Civita connection. However, I am a bit puzzled by the second term. For example, lets say I'll take the specific case $k=0$. Then, using formula ($\ast$) I get $$\Delta=g^{ij}(\underbrace{\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f}_{\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f)=g^{ij}\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-2\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f$$ which is wrong, since we should obtain the Laplace-Beltrami operator $$\Delta_{\mathrm{LB}}f=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f)$$ In other words, the fact 2 is different.

I assume it is just a missunderstanding of notation or terminology. Any help appreciated.

Edit: I think I have an idea where the difference comes from, but I am not sure.

1. When I write things like $\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f$, then I use the typical notation which is used in physics literature, i.e. $\nabla_{i}\omega_{j}$ for some 1-form $\omega$ are the coefficients of $\nabla_{\partial_{i}}\omega$ in coordinates, i.e. $\nabla_{\partial_{i}}\omega=:(\nabla_{i}\omega_{j})d x^{j}$.
2. In the lecture notes above ($\ast$), the notation is meant to mean $\nabla_{i}:=\nabla_{\partial_{i}}$
3. Now, you can see the difference. In my notation, I view $\nabla_{j}f$ is a 1-form $\omega_{j}$ yielding the formula $$\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j} f=\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f$$ while in the lecture notes (equation ($\ast$)), you obtain $$\nabla_{\partial_{i}}\nabla_{\partial_{j}}f=\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f$$ since $\nabla_{\partial_{j}}f=\partial_{j}f$ is again a function. Hence, formula ($\ast$) viewed in this sense gives the correct result $$\Delta f=\nabla_{\partial_{i}}\nabla_{\partial_{j}}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{\partial_{k}}f=\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f$$

Sorry if this is a too basic question, but I didn't find an answer anywhere:

The connection Laplacian, or Bochner Laplacian, is the differential operator acting on $k$-tensor fields $T\in\Gamma^{\infty}(T^{\ast}M^{\otimes_{s}2})$ given by $$\Delta:=\mathrm{tr}(\nabla^{2}T)$$ Now, I am confused about the coordinate expression: Many references, for example this nice lecture notes by L. Nicolaescu, state that $$\Delta:=g^{ij}(\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}+\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k})\tag{$\ast$}$$ where $\nabla$ denotes the Levi-Civita connection. However, I am a bit puzzled by the second term. For example, lets say I'll take the specific case $k=0$. Then, using formula ($\ast$) I get $$\Delta=g^{ij}(\underbrace{\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f}_{\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f}+\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f)=g^{ij}\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f$$ which is wrong, since we should obtain the Laplace-Beltrami operator $$\Delta_{\mathrm{LB}}f=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f)$$

I assume it is just a missunderstanding of notation or terminology. Any help appreciated.

Sorry if this is a too basic question, but I didn't find an answer anywhere:

The connection Laplacian, or Bochner Laplacian, is the differential operator acting on $k$-tensor fields $T\in\Gamma^{\infty}(T^{\ast}M^{\otimes_{s}2})$ given by $$\Delta:=\mathrm{tr}(\nabla^{2}T)$$ Now, I am confused about the coordinate expression: Many references, for example this nice lecture notes by L. Nicolaescu, state that $$\Delta:=g^{ij}(\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k})\tag{$\ast$}$$ where $\nabla$ denotes the Levi-Civita connection. However, I am a bit puzzled by the second term. For example, lets say I'll take the specific case $k=0$. Then, using formula ($\ast$) I get $$\Delta=g^{ij}(\underbrace{\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f}_{\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f)=g^{ij}\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-2\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f$$ which is wrong, since we should obtain the Laplace-Beltrami operator $$\Delta_{\mathrm{LB}}f=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f)$$ In other words, the fact 2 is different.

I assume it is just a missunderstanding of notation or terminology. Any help appreciated.

Sorry if this is a too basic question, but I didn't find an answer anywhere:

The connection Laplacian, or Bochner Laplacian, is the differential operator acting on $k$-tensor fields $T\in\Gamma^{\infty}(T^{\ast}M^{\otimes_{s}2})$ given by $$\Delta:=\mathrm{tr}(\nabla^{2}T)$$ Now, I am confused about the coordinate expression: Many references, for example this nice lecture notes by L. Nicolaescu, state that $$\Delta:=g^{ij}(\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}+\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k})$$ where $\nabla$ denotes the Levi-Civita connection. However, I am a bit puzzled by the second term. For example, let say I take the case $k=0$. Then, the operator $\Delta$ should reduce to the Laplace-Beltrami operator, which is given by $$\Delta_{\mathrm{LB}}f=g^{ij}\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\nabla_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{j}f)=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f\underline{-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f})$$ where I used that $\nabla_{i}f=\partial_{i}f$ on zero-tensors and $\nabla_{i}T_{j}=\partial_{i}T_{j}-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}T_{k}$ on $1$-tensors. However, equation above gives $$\Delta f=g^{ij}\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f$$ i.e. the underlined part is missing. In general, I would expect that the connection Laplacian in coordinates is simply $$(\Delta T)_{i_{1}\dots i_{k}} = g^{ij}\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}T_{i_{1}\dots i_{k}} = g^{ij}\bigg(\partial_{i}T_{i_{1}\dots i_{k}}-\sum_{l}\Gamma_{ii_{j}}^{l}\nabla_{j}T_{i_{1}\dots l\dots i_{k}}\bigg)$$ where each term $\nabla_{j}T_{i_{1}\dots l\dots i_{k}}$ has to be replaced by its usual expression for covariant derivatives of tensors. So my question can be summarized:

Why is there this additional piece $\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}$ in the formula above?

I assume it is just a missunderstanding of notation or terminology. Any help appreciated.

Sorry if this is a too basic question, but I didn't find an answer anywhere:

The connection Laplacian, or Bochner Laplacian, is the differential operator acting on $k$-tensor fields $T\in\Gamma^{\infty}(T^{\ast}M^{\otimes_{s}2})$ given by $$\Delta:=\mathrm{tr}(\nabla^{2}T)$$ Now, I am confused about the coordinate expression: Many references, for example this nice lecture notes by L. Nicolaescu, state that $$\Delta:=g^{ij}(\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}+\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k})\tag{$\ast$}$$ where $\nabla$ denotes the Levi-Civita connection. However, I am a bit puzzled by the second term. For example, lets say I'll take the specific case $k=0$. Then, using formula ($\ast$) I get $$\Delta=g^{ij}(\underbrace{\nabla_{i}\nabla_{j}f}_{\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f}+\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\nabla_{k}f)=g^{ij}\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f$$ which is wrong, since we should obtain the Laplace-Beltrami operator $$\Delta_{\mathrm{LB}}f=g^{ij}(\partial_{i}\partial_{j}f-\Gamma_{ij}^{k}\partial_{k}f)$$

I assume it is just a missunderstanding of notation or terminology. Any help appreciated.