In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, differential forms provide a unified approach to define
integrand
In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along with d ...
s over curves, surfaces, solids, and higher-dimensional
manifolds. The modern notion of differential forms was pioneered by
Élie Cartan
Élie Joseph Cartan (; 9 April 1869 – 6 May 1951) was an influential French mathematician who did fundamental work in the theory of Lie groups, differential systems (coordinate-free geometric formulation of PDEs), and differential geometr ...
. It has many applications, especially in geometry, topology and physics.
For instance, the expression is an example of a
-form, and can be
integrated over an interval contained in the domain of :
:
Similarly, the expression is a -form that can be integrated over a
surface
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...
:
:
The symbol denotes the
exterior product
In mathematics, specifically in topology,
the interior of a subset of a topological space is the union of all subsets of that are open in .
A point that is in the interior of is an interior point of .
The interior of is the complement of th ...
, sometimes called the ''wedge product'', of two differential forms. Likewise, a -form represents a
volume element In mathematics, a volume element provides a means for integrating a function with respect to volume in various coordinate systems such as spherical coordinates and cylindrical coordinates. Thus a volume element is an expression of the form
:dV ...
that can be integrated over a region of space. In general, a -form is an object that may be integrated over a -dimensional manifold, and is
homogeneous of degree in the coordinate differentials
On an -dimensional manifold, the top-dimensional form (-form) is called a ''
volume form In mathematics, a volume form or top-dimensional form is a differential form of degree equal to the differentiable manifold dimension. Thus on a manifold M of dimension n, a volume form is an n-form. It is an element of the space of sections of th ...
''.
The differential forms form an
alternating algebra
In mathematics, an alternating algebra is a -graded algebra for which for all nonzero homogeneous elements and (i.e. it is an anticommutative algebra) and has the further property that for every homogeneous element of odd degree.
Examples ...
. This implies that
and
This alternating property reflects the
orientation
Orientation may refer to:
Positioning in physical space
* Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions
* Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building de ...
of the domain of integration.
The
exterior derivative is an operation on differential forms that, given a -form
, produces a -form
This operation extends the
differential of a function
In calculus, the differential represents the principal part of the change in a function ''y'' = ''f''(''x'') with respect to changes in the independent variable. The differential ''dy'' is defined by
:dy = f'(x)\,dx,
where f'(x) is th ...
(a function can be considered as a -form, and its differential is
) This allows expressing the
fundamental theorem of calculus
The fundamental theorem of calculus is a theorem that links the concept of differentiating a function (calculating its slopes, or rate of change at each time) with the concept of integrating a function (calculating the area under its graph, or ...
, the
divergence theorem,
Green's theorem, and
Stokes' theorem as special cases of a single general result, the
generalized Stokes theorem
In vector calculus and differential geometry the generalized Stokes theorem (sometimes with apostrophe as Stokes' theorem or Stokes's theorem), also called the Stokes–Cartan theorem, is a statement about the integration of differential forms o ...
.
Differential -forms are naturally dual to
vector fields on a
differentiable manifold, and the pairing between vector fields and -forms is extended to arbitrary differential forms by the
interior product
In mathematics, the interior product (also known as interior derivative, interior multiplication, inner multiplication, inner derivative, insertion operator, or inner derivation) is a degree −1 (anti)derivation on the exterior algebra of ...
. The algebra of differential forms along with the exterior derivative defined on it is preserved by the
pullback
In mathematics, a pullback is either of two different, but related processes: precomposition and fiber-product. Its dual is a pushforward.
Precomposition
Precomposition with a function probably provides the most elementary notion of pullback: i ...
under smooth functions between two manifolds. This feature allows geometrically invariant information to be moved from one space to another via the pullback, provided that the information is expressed in terms of differential forms. As an example, the
change of variables formula
In calculus, integration by substitution, also known as ''u''-substitution, reverse chain rule or change of variables, is a method for evaluating integrals and antiderivatives. It is the counterpart to the chain rule for differentiation, and can ...
for integration becomes a simple statement that an integral is preserved under pullback.
History
Differential forms are part of the field of differential geometry, influenced by linear algebra. Although the notion of a differential is quite old, the initial attempt at an algebraic organization of differential forms is usually credited to
Élie Cartan
Élie Joseph Cartan (; 9 April 1869 – 6 May 1951) was an influential French mathematician who did fundamental work in the theory of Lie groups, differential systems (coordinate-free geometric formulation of PDEs), and differential geometr ...
with reference to his 1899 paper. Some aspects of the
exterior algebra
In mathematics, the exterior algebra, or Grassmann algebra, named after Hermann Grassmann, is an algebra that uses the exterior product or wedge product as its multiplication. In mathematics, the exterior product or wedge product of vectors is a ...
of differential forms appears in
Hermann Grassmann
Hermann Günther Grassmann (german: link=no, Graßmann, ; 15 April 1809 – 26 September 1877) was a German polymath known in his day as a linguist and now also as a mathematician. He was also a physicist, general scholar, and publisher. His mat ...
's 1844 work, ''Die Lineale Ausdehnungslehre, ein neuer Zweig der Mathematik (The Theory of Linear Extension, a New Branch of Mathematics)''.
Concept
Differential forms provide an approach to
multivariable calculus
Multivariable calculus (also known as multivariate calculus) is the extension of calculus in one variable to calculus with functions of several variables: the differentiation and integration of functions involving several variables, rather ...
that is independent of
coordinate
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sign ...
s.
Integration and orientation
A differential -form can be integrated over an oriented
manifold of dimension . A differential -form can be thought of as measuring an infinitesimal oriented length, or 1-dimensional oriented density. A differential -form can be thought of as measuring an infinitesimal oriented area, or 2-dimensional oriented density. And so on.
Integration of differential forms is well-defined only on
oriented manifolds
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a ne ...
. An example of a 1-dimensional manifold is an interval , and intervals can be given an orientation: they are positively oriented if , and negatively oriented otherwise. If then the integral of the differential -form over the interval (with its natural positive orientation) is
:
which is the negative of the integral of the same differential form over the same interval, when equipped with the opposite orientation. That is:
:
This gives a geometrical context to the
conventions for one-dimensional integrals, that the sign changes when the orientation of the interval is reversed. A standard explanation of this in one-variable integration theory is that, when the limits of integration are in the opposite order (), the increment is negative in the direction of integration.
More generally, an -form is an oriented density that can be integrated over an -dimensional oriented manifold. (For example, a -form can be integrated over an oriented curve, a -form can be integrated over an oriented surface, etc.) If is an oriented -dimensional manifold, and is the same manifold with opposite orientation and is an -form, then one has:
:
These conventions correspond to interpreting the integrand as a differential form, integrated over a
chain. In
measure theory
In mathematics, the concept of a measure is a generalization and formalization of geometrical measures ( length, area, volume) and other common notions, such as mass and probability of events. These seemingly distinct concepts have many simil ...
, by contrast, one interprets the integrand as a function with respect to a measure and integrates over a subset , without any notion of orientation; one writes
to indicate integration over a subset . This is a minor distinction in one dimension, but becomes subtler on higher-dimensional manifolds; see
below for details.
Making the notion of an oriented density precise, and thus of a differential form, involves the
exterior algebra
In mathematics, the exterior algebra, or Grassmann algebra, named after Hermann Grassmann, is an algebra that uses the exterior product or wedge product as its multiplication. In mathematics, the exterior product or wedge product of vectors is a ...
. The differentials of a set of coordinates, , ..., can be used as a basis for all -forms. Each of these represents a
covector at each point on the manifold that may be thought of as measuring a small displacement in the corresponding coordinate direction. A general -form is a linear combination of these differentials at every point on the manifold:
:
where the are functions of all the coordinates. A differential -form is integrated along an oriented curve as a line integral.
The expressions , where can be used as a basis at every point on the manifold for all -forms. This may be thought of as an infinitesimal oriented square parallel to the –-plane. A general -form is a linear combination of these at every point on the manifold: and it is integrated just like a surface integral.
A fundamental operation defined on differential forms is the
exterior product
In mathematics, specifically in topology,
the interior of a subset of a topological space is the union of all subsets of that are open in .
A point that is in the interior of is an interior point of .
The interior of is the complement of th ...
(the symbol is the
wedge
A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane, and one of the six simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converti ...
). This is similar to the
cross product
In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here E), and is ...
from vector calculus, in that it is an alternating product. For instance,
:
because the square whose first side is and second side is is to be regarded as having the opposite orientation as the square whose first side is and whose second side is . This is why we only need to sum over expressions , with ; for example: . The exterior product allows higher-degree differential forms to be built out of lower-degree ones, in much the same way that the
cross product
In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here E), and is ...
in vector calculus allows one to compute the area vector of a parallelogram from vectors pointing up the two sides. Alternating also implies that , in the same way that the cross product of parallel vectors, whose magnitude is the area of the parallelogram spanned by those vectors, is zero. In higher dimensions, if any two of the indices , ..., are equal, in the same way that the "volume" enclosed by a
parallelotope whose edge vectors are
linearly dependent
In the theory of vector spaces, a set of vectors is said to be if there is a nontrivial linear combination of the vectors that equals the zero vector. If no such linear combination exists, then the vectors are said to be . These concepts are ...
is zero.
Multi-index notation
A common notation for the wedge product of elementary -forms is so called
multi-index notation
Multi-index notation is a mathematical notation that simplifies formulas used in multivariable calculus, partial differential equations and the theory of distributions, by generalising the concept of an integer index to an ordered tuple of indices. ...
: in an -dimensional context, for we define
Another useful notation is obtained by defining the set of all strictly increasing multi-indices of length , in a space of dimension , denoted Then locally (wherever the coordinates apply),
spans the space of differential -forms in a manifold of dimension , when viewed as a module over the ring of smooth functions on . By calculating the size of
combinatorially, the module of -forms on an -dimensional manifold, and in general space of -covectors on an -dimensional vector space, is choose : This also demonstrates that there are no nonzero differential forms of degree greater than the dimension of the underlying manifold.
The exterior derivative
In addition to the exterior product, there is also the
exterior derivative operator . The exterior derivative of a differential form is a generalization of the
differential of a function
In calculus, the differential represents the principal part of the change in a function ''y'' = ''f''(''x'') with respect to changes in the independent variable. The differential ''dy'' is defined by
:dy = f'(x)\,dx,
where f'(x) is th ...
, in the sense that the exterior derivative of is exactly the differential of . When generalized to higher forms, if is a simple -form, then its exterior derivative is a -form defined by taking the differential of the coefficient functions:
:
with extension to general -forms through linearity: if then its exterior derivative is
:
In , with the
Hodge star operator
In mathematics, the Hodge star operator or Hodge star is a linear map defined on the exterior algebra of a finite-dimensional oriented vector space endowed with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. Applying the operator to an element of the ...
, the exterior derivative corresponds to
gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gr ...
,
curl, and
divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the quantity of the vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of t ...
, although this correspondence, like the cross product, does not generalize to higher dimensions, and should be treated with some caution.
The exterior derivative itself applies in an arbitrary finite number of dimensions, and is a flexible and powerful tool with wide application in
differential geometry
Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of differential calculus, integral calculus, linear algebra and multili ...
,
differential topology
In mathematics, differential topology is the field dealing with the topological properties and smooth properties of smooth manifolds. In this sense differential topology is distinct from the closely related field of differential geometry, which ...
, and many areas in physics. Of note, although the above definition of the exterior derivative was defined with respect to local coordinates, it can be defined in an entirely coordinate-free manner, as an
antiderivation In mathematics, a derivation is a function on an algebra which generalizes certain features of the derivative operator. Specifically, given an algebra ''A'' over a ring or a field ''K'', a ''K''-derivation is a ''K''-linear map that satisfies Le ...
of degree 1 on the
exterior algebra
In mathematics, the exterior algebra, or Grassmann algebra, named after Hermann Grassmann, is an algebra that uses the exterior product or wedge product as its multiplication. In mathematics, the exterior product or wedge product of vectors is a ...
of differential forms. The benefit of this more general approach is that it allows for a natural coordinate-free approach to integrate on
manifolds. It also allows for a natural generalization of the
fundamental theorem of calculus
The fundamental theorem of calculus is a theorem that links the concept of differentiating a function (calculating its slopes, or rate of change at each time) with the concept of integrating a function (calculating the area under its graph, or ...
, called the (generalized)
Stokes' theorem, which is a central result in the theory of integration on manifolds.
Differential calculus
Let be an
open set
In mathematics, open sets are a generalization of open intervals in the real line.
In a metric space (a set along with a distance defined between any two points), open sets are the sets that, with every point , contain all points that are su ...
in . A differential -form ("zero-form") is defined to be a
smooth function on – the set of which is denoted . If is any vector in , then has a
directional derivative
In mathematics, the directional derivative of a multivariable differentiable (scalar) function along a given vector v at a given point x intuitively represents the instantaneous rate of change of the function, moving through x with a velocity ...
, which is another function on whose value at a point is the rate of change (at ) of in the direction:
:
(This notion can be extended pointwise to the case that is a
vector field on by evaluating at the point in the definition.)
In particular, if is the th
coordinate vector then is the
partial derivative of with respect to the th coordinate vector, i.e., , where , , ..., are the coordinate vectors in . By their very definition, partial derivatives depend upon the choice of coordinates: if new coordinates , , ..., are introduced, then
:
The first idea leading to differential forms is the observation that is a
linear function
In mathematics, the term linear function refers to two distinct but related notions:
* In calculus and related areas, a linear function is a function whose graph is a straight line, that is, a polynomial function of degree zero or one. For dist ...
of :
:
for any vectors , and any real number . At each point ''p'', this
linear map
In mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear map (also called a linear mapping, linear transformation, vector space homomorphism, or in some contexts linear function) is a mapping V \to W between two vector spaces that pr ...
from to is denoted and called the
derivative
In mathematics, the derivative of a function of a real variable measures the sensitivity to change of the function value (output value) with respect to a change in its argument (input value). Derivatives are a fundamental tool of calculus. ...
or
differential of at . Thus . Extended over the whole set, the object can be viewed as a function that takes a vector field on , and returns a real-valued function whose value at each point is the derivative along the vector field of the function . Note that at each , the differential is not a real number, but a linear functional on tangent vectors, and a prototypical example of a differential
-form.
Since any vector is a
linear combination of its
components, is uniquely determined by for each and each , which are just the partial derivatives of on . Thus provides a way of encoding the partial derivatives of . It can be decoded by noticing that the coordinates , , ..., are themselves functions on , and so define differential -forms , , ..., . Let . Since , the
Kronecker delta function
In mathematics, the Kronecker delta (named after Leopold Kronecker) is a function of two variables, usually just non-negative integers. The function is 1 if the variables are equal, and 0 otherwise:
\delta_ = \begin
0 &\text i \neq j, \\
1 &\t ...
, it follows that
The meaning of this expression is given by evaluating both sides at an arbitrary point : on the right hand side, the sum is defined "
pointwise In mathematics, the qualifier pointwise is used to indicate that a certain property is defined by considering each value f(x) of some function f. An important class of pointwise concepts are the ''pointwise operations'', that is, operations defined ...
", so that
:
Applying both sides to , the result on each side is the th partial derivative of at . Since and were arbitrary, this proves the formula .
More generally, for any smooth functions and on , we define the differential -form pointwise by
:
for each . Any differential -form arises this way, and by using it follows that any differential -form on may be expressed in coordinates as
:
for some smooth functions on .
The second idea leading to differential forms arises from the following question: given a differential -form on , when does there exist a function on such that ? The above expansion reduces this question to the search for a function whose partial derivatives are equal to given functions . For , such a function does not always exist: any smooth function satisfies
:
so it will be impossible to find such an unless
:
for all and .
The
skew-symmetry of the left hand side in and suggests introducing an antisymmetric product on differential -forms, the
exterior product
In mathematics, specifically in topology,
the interior of a subset of a topological space is the union of all subsets of that are open in .
A point that is in the interior of is an interior point of .
The interior of is the complement of th ...
, so that these equations can be combined into a single condition
:
where is defined so that:
:
This is an example of a differential -form. This -form is called the
exterior derivative of . It is given by
:
To summarize: is a necessary condition for the existence of a function with .
Differential -forms, -forms, and -forms are special cases of differential forms. For each , there is a space of differential -forms, which can be expressed in terms of the coordinates as
:
for a collection of functions . Antisymmetry, which was already present for -forms, makes it possible to restrict the sum to those sets of indices for which .
Differential forms can be multiplied together using the exterior product, and for any differential -form , there is a differential -form called the exterior derivative of .
Differential forms, the exterior product and the exterior derivative are independent of a choice of coordinates. Consequently, they may be defined on any
smooth manifold
In mathematics, a differentiable manifold (also differential manifold) is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One ma ...
. One way to do this is cover with
coordinate chart In topology, a branch of mathematics, a topological manifold is a topological space that locally resembles real ''n''-dimensional Euclidean space. Topological manifolds are an important class of topological spaces, with applications throughout mathe ...
s and define a differential -form on to be a family of differential -forms on each chart which agree on the overlaps. However, there are more intrinsic definitions which make the independence of coordinates manifest.
Intrinsic definitions
Let be a
smooth manifold
In mathematics, a differentiable manifold (also differential manifold) is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One ma ...
. A smooth differential form of degree is a
smooth section of the th
exterior power
In mathematics, the exterior algebra, or Grassmann algebra, named after Hermann Grassmann, is an algebra that uses the exterior product or wedge product as its multiplication. In mathematics, the exterior product or wedge product of vectors is ...
of the
cotangent bundle of . The set of all differential -forms on a manifold is a
vector space
In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called '' vectors'', may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called ''scalars''. Scalars are often real numbers, but can ...
, often denoted .
The definition of a differential form may be restated as follows. At any point , a -form defines an element
:
where is the
tangent space
In mathematics, the tangent space of a manifold generalizes to higher dimensions the notion of '' tangent planes'' to surfaces in three dimensions and ''tangent lines'' to curves in two dimensions. In the context of physics the tangent space to a ...
to at and is its
dual space. This space is to the fiber at of the dual bundle of the th exterior power of the
tangent bundle
In differential geometry, the tangent bundle of a differentiable manifold M is a manifold TM which assembles all the tangent vectors in M . As a set, it is given by the disjoint unionThe disjoint union ensures that for any two points and of ...
of . That is, is also a linear functional
, i.e. the dual of the th exterior power is isomorphic to the th exterior power of the dual:
:
By the universal property of exterior powers, this is equivalently an
alternating multilinear map
In linear algebra, a multilinear map is a function of several variables that is linear separately in each variable. More precisely, a multilinear map is a function
:f\colon V_1 \times \cdots \times V_n \to W\text
where V_1,\ldots,V_n and W ar ...
:
:
Consequently, a differential -form may be evaluated against any -tuple of tangent vectors to the same point of . For example, a differential -form assigns to each point a
linear functional
In mathematics, a linear form (also known as a linear functional, a one-form, or a covector) is a linear map from a vector space to its field of scalars (often, the real numbers or the complex numbers).
If is a vector space over a field , the ...
on . In the presence of an
inner product
In mathematics, an inner product space (or, rarely, a Hausdorff pre-Hilbert space) is a real vector space or a complex vector space with an operation called an inner product. The inner product of two vectors in the space is a scalar, often ...
on (induced by a
Riemannian metric
In differential geometry, a Riemannian manifold or Riemannian space , so called after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, is a real, smooth manifold ''M'' equipped with a positive-definite inner product ''g'p'' on the tangent space '' ...
on ), may be
represented as the inner product with a
tangent vector
In mathematics, a tangent vector is a vector that is tangent to a curve or surface at a given point. Tangent vectors are described in the differential geometry of curves in the context of curves in R''n''. More generally, tangent vectors are e ...
. Differential -forms are sometimes called
covariant vector fields, covector fields, or "dual vector fields", particularly within physics.
The exterior algebra may be embedded in the tensor algebra by means of the alternation map. The alternation map is defined as a mapping
:
For a tensor
at a point ,
:
where is the
symmetric group
In abstract algebra, the symmetric group defined over any set is the group whose elements are all the bijections from the set to itself, and whose group operation is the composition of functions. In particular, the finite symmetric group ...
on elements. The alternation map is constant on the cosets of the ideal in the tensor algebra generated by the symmetric 2-forms, and therefore descends to an embedding
:
This map exhibits as a
totally antisymmetric covariant tensor field
In mathematics and physics, a tensor field assigns a tensor to each point of a mathematical space (typically a Euclidean space or manifold). Tensor fields are used in differential geometry, algebraic geometry, general relativity, in the analysis ...
of rank . The differential forms on are in one-to-one correspondence with such tensor fields.
Operations
As well as the addition and multiplication by scalar operations which arise from the vector space structure, there are several other standard operations defined on differential forms. The most important operations are the
exterior product
In mathematics, specifically in topology,
the interior of a subset of a topological space is the union of all subsets of that are open in .
A point that is in the interior of is an interior point of .
The interior of is the complement of th ...
of two differential forms, the
exterior derivative of a single differential form, the
interior product
In mathematics, the interior product (also known as interior derivative, interior multiplication, inner multiplication, inner derivative, insertion operator, or inner derivation) is a degree −1 (anti)derivation on the exterior algebra of ...
of a differential form and a vector field, the
Lie derivative
In differential geometry, the Lie derivative ( ), named after Sophus Lie by Władysław Ślebodziński, evaluates the change of a tensor field (including scalar functions, vector fields and one-forms), along the flow defined by another vector fi ...
of a differential form with respect to a vector field and the
covariant derivative of a differential form with respect to a vector field on a manifold with a defined connection.
Exterior product
The exterior product of a -form and an -form , denoted , is a ()-form. At each point of the manifold , the forms and are elements of an exterior power of the cotangent space at . When the exterior algebra is viewed as a quotient of the tensor algebra, the exterior product corresponds to the tensor product (modulo the equivalence relation defining the exterior algebra).
The antisymmetry inherent in the exterior algebra means that when is viewed as a multilinear functional, it is alternating. However, when the exterior algebra is embedded as a subspace of the tensor algebra by means of the alternation map, the tensor product is not alternating. There is an explicit formula which describes the exterior product in this situation. The exterior product is
:
If the embedding of
into
is done via the map
instead of
, the exterior product is
:
This description is useful for explicit computations. For example, if , then is the -form whose value at a point is the
alternating bilinear form defined by
:
for .
The exterior product is bilinear: If , , and are any differential forms, and if is any smooth function, then
:
:
It is ''skew commutative'' (also known as ''graded commutative''), meaning that it satisfies a variant of
anticommutativity
In mathematics, anticommutativity is a specific property of some non-commutative mathematical operations. Swapping the position of two arguments of an antisymmetric operation yields a result which is the ''inverse'' of the result with unswapped ...
that depends on the degrees of the forms: if is a -form and is an -form, then
:
One also has the
graded Leibniz rule
In mathematics, in particular abstract algebra and topology, a differential graded algebra is a graded associative algebra with an added chain complex structure that respects the algebra structure.
__TOC__
Definition
A differential graded a ...
:
Riemannian manifold
On a
Riemannian manifold, or more generally a
pseudo-Riemannian manifold
In differential geometry, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, also called a semi-Riemannian manifold, is a differentiable manifold with a metric tensor that is everywhere nondegenerate. This is a generalization of a Riemannian manifold in which the ...
, the metric defines a fibre-wise isomorphism of the tangent and cotangent bundles. This makes it possible to convert vector fields to covector fields and vice versa. It also enables the definition of additional operations such as the
Hodge star operator
In mathematics, the Hodge star operator or Hodge star is a linear map defined on the exterior algebra of a finite-dimensional oriented vector space endowed with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. Applying the operator to an element of the ...
and the
codifferential , which has degree and is
adjoint
In mathematics, the term ''adjoint'' applies in several situations. Several of these share a similar formalism: if ''A'' is adjoint to ''B'', then there is typically some formula of the type
:(''Ax'', ''y'') = (''x'', ''By'').
Specifically, adjoin ...
to the exterior differential .
Vector field structures
On a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, -forms can be identified with vector fields; vector fields have additional distinct algebraic structures, which are listed here for context and to avoid confusion.
Firstly, each (co)tangent space generates a
Clifford algebra, where the product of a (co)vector with itself is given by the value of a quadratic form – in this case, the natural one induced by the
metric
Metric or metrical may refer to:
* Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement
* An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement
Mathematics
In mathem ...
. This algebra is ''distinct'' from the
exterior algebra
In mathematics, the exterior algebra, or Grassmann algebra, named after Hermann Grassmann, is an algebra that uses the exterior product or wedge product as its multiplication. In mathematics, the exterior product or wedge product of vectors is a ...
of differential forms, which can be viewed as a Clifford algebra where the quadratic form vanishes (since the exterior product of any vector with itself is zero). Clifford algebras are thus non-anticommutative ("quantum") deformations of the exterior algebra. They are studied in
geometric algebra.
Another alternative is to consider vector fields as derivations. The (noncommutative) algebra of
differential operators they generate is the
Weyl algebra
In abstract algebra, the Weyl algebra is the ring of differential operators with polynomial coefficients (in one variable), namely expressions of the form
: f_m(X) \partial_X^m + f_(X) \partial_X^ + \cdots + f_1(X) \partial_X + f_0(X).
More prec ...
and is a noncommutative ("quantum") deformation of the ''symmetric'' algebra in the vector fields.
Exterior differential complex
One important property of the exterior derivative is that . This means that the exterior derivative defines a
cochain complex
In mathematics, a chain complex is an algebraic structure that consists of a sequence of abelian groups (or modules) and a sequence of homomorphisms between consecutive groups such that the image of each homomorphism is included in the kernel of th ...
:
:
This complex is called the de Rham complex, and its
cohomology
In mathematics, specifically in homology theory and algebraic topology, cohomology is a general term for a sequence of abelian groups, usually one associated with a topological space, often defined from a cochain complex. Cohomology can be viewe ...
is by definition the
de Rham cohomology of . By the
Poincaré lemma In mathematics, especially vector calculus and differential topology, a closed form is a differential form ''α'' whose exterior derivative is zero (), and an exact form is a differential form, ''α'', that is the exterior derivative of another ...
, the de Rham complex is locally
exact except at . The kernel at is the space of
locally constant function
In mathematics, a locally constant function is a function from a topological space into a set with the property that around every point of its domain, there exists some neighborhood of that point on which it restricts to a constant function.
...
s on . Therefore, the complex is a resolution of the constant
sheaf
Sheaf may refer to:
* Sheaf (agriculture), a bundle of harvested cereal stems
* Sheaf (mathematics), a mathematical tool
* Sheaf toss, a Scottish sport
* River Sheaf, a tributary of River Don in England
* ''The Sheaf'', a student-run newspaper se ...
, which in turn implies a form of de Rham's theorem: de Rham cohomology computes the
sheaf cohomology of .
Pullback
Suppose that is smooth. The differential of is a smooth map between the tangent bundles of and . This map is also denoted and called the pushforward. For any point and any tangent vector , there is a well-defined pushforward vector in . However, the same is not true of a vector field. If is not injective, say because has two or more preimages, then the vector field may determine two or more distinct vectors in . If is not surjective, then there will be a point at which does not determine any tangent vector at all. Since a vector field on determines, by definition, a unique tangent vector at every point of , the pushforward of a vector field does not always exist.
By contrast, it is always possible to pull back a differential form. A differential form on may be viewed as a linear functional on each tangent space. Precomposing this functional with the differential defines a linear functional on each tangent space of and therefore a differential form on . The existence of pullbacks is one of the key features of the theory of differential forms. It leads to the existence of pullback maps in other situations, such as pullback homomorphisms in de Rham cohomology.
Formally, let be smooth, and let be a smooth -form on . Then there is a differential form on , called the pullback of , which captures the behavior of as seen relative to . To define the pullback, fix a point of and tangent vectors , ..., to at . The pullback of is defined by the formula
:
There are several more abstract ways to view this definition. If is a -form on , then it may be viewed as a section of the cotangent bundle of . Using to denote a dual map, the dual to the differential of is . The pullback of may be defined to be the composite
:
This is a section of the cotangent bundle of and hence a differential -form on . In full generality, let
denote the th exterior power of the dual map to the differential. Then the pullback of a -form is the composite
:
Another abstract way to view the pullback comes from viewing a -form as a linear functional on tangent spaces. From this point of view, is a morphism of
vector bundle
In mathematics, a vector bundle is a topological construction that makes precise the idea of a family of vector spaces parameterized by another space X (for example X could be a topological space, a manifold, or an algebraic variety): to every p ...
s
:
where is the trivial rank one bundle on . The composite map
:
defines a linear functional on each tangent space of , and therefore it factors through the trivial bundle . The vector bundle morphism
defined in this way is .
Pullback respects all of the basic operations on forms. If and are forms and is a real number, then
:
The pullback of a form can also be written in coordinates. Assume that , ..., are coordinates on , that , ..., are coordinates on , and that these coordinate systems are related by the formulas for all . Locally on , can be written as
:
where, for each choice of , ..., , is a real-valued function of , ..., . Using the linearity of pullback and its compatibility with exterior product, the pullback of has the formula
:
Each exterior derivative can be expanded in terms of , ..., . The resulting -form can be written using
Jacobian matrices:
:
Here,
denotes the determinant of the matrix whose entries are
,
.
Integration
A differential -form can be integrated over an oriented -dimensional manifold. When the -form is defined on an -dimensional manifold with , then the -form can be integrated over oriented -dimensional submanifolds. If , integration over oriented 0-dimensional submanifolds is just the summation of the integrand evaluated at points, with according to the orientation of those points. Other values of correspond to line integrals, surface integrals, volume integrals, and so on. There are several equivalent ways to formally define the integral of a differential form, all of which depend on reducing to the case of Euclidean space.
Integration on Euclidean space
Let be an open subset of . Give its standard orientation and the restriction of that orientation. Every smooth -form on has the form
:
for some smooth function . Such a function has an integral in the usual Riemann or Lebesgue sense. This allows us to define the integral of to be the integral of :
:
Fixing an orientation is necessary for this to be well-defined. The skew-symmetry of differential forms means that the integral of, say, must be the negative of the integral of . Riemann and Lebesgue integrals cannot see this dependence on the ordering of the coordinates, so they leave the sign of the integral undetermined. The orientation resolves this ambiguity.
Integration over chains
Let be an -manifold and an -form on . First, assume that there is a parametrization of by an open subset of Euclidean space. That is, assume that there exists a diffeomorphism
:
where . Give the orientation induced by . Then defines the integral of over to be the integral of over . In coordinates, this has the following expression. Fix an embedding of in with coordinates . Then
:
Suppose that is defined by
:
Then the integral may be written in coordinates as
:
where
:
is the determinant of the
Jacobian. The Jacobian exists because is differentiable.
In general, an -manifold cannot be parametrized by an open subset of . But such a parametrization is always possible locally, so it is possible to define integrals over arbitrary manifolds by defining them as sums of integrals over collections of local parametrizations. Moreover, it is also possible to define parametrizations of -dimensional subsets for , and this makes it possible to define integrals of -forms. To make this precise, it is convenient to fix a standard domain in , usually a cube or a simplex. A -chain is a formal sum of smooth embeddings . That is, it is a collection of smooth embeddings, each of which is assigned an integer multiplicity. Each smooth embedding determines a -dimensional submanifold of . If the chain is
:
then the integral of a -form over is defined to be the sum of the integrals over the terms of :
:
This approach to defining integration does not assign a direct meaning to integration over the whole manifold . However, it is still possible to assign such a meaning indirectly because every smooth manifold may be smoothly
triangulated in an essentially unique way, and the integral over may be defined to be the integral over the chain determined by a triangulation.
Integration using partitions of unity
There is another approach, expounded in , which does directly assign a meaning to integration over , but this approach requires fixing an orientation of . The integral of an -form on an -dimensional manifold is defined by working in charts. Suppose first that is supported on a single positively oriented chart. On this chart, it may be pulled back to an -form on an open subset of . Here, the form has a well-defined Riemann or Lebesgue integral as before. The change of variables formula and the assumption that the chart is positively oriented together ensure that the integral of is independent of the chosen chart. In the general case, use a partition of unity to write as a sum of -forms, each of which is supported in a single positively oriented chart, and define the integral of to be the sum of the integrals of each term in the partition of unity.
It is also possible to integrate -forms on oriented -dimensional submanifolds using this more intrinsic approach. The form is pulled back to the submanifold, where the integral is defined using charts as before. For example, given a path , integrating a -form on the path is simply pulling back the form to a form on , and this integral is the integral of the function on the interval.
Integration along fibers
Fubini's theorem
In mathematical analysis Fubini's theorem is a result that gives conditions under which it is possible to compute a double integral by using an iterated integral, introduced by Guido Fubini in 1907. One may switch the order of integration if th ...
states that the integral over a set that is a product may be computed as an iterated integral over the two factors in the product. This suggests that the integral of a differential form over a product ought to be computable as an iterated integral as well. The geometric flexibility of differential forms ensures that this is possible not just for products, but in more general situations as well. Under some hypotheses, it is possible to integrate along the fibers of a smooth map, and the analog of Fubini's theorem is the case where this map is the projection from a product to one of its factors.
Because integrating a differential form over a submanifold requires fixing an orientation, a prerequisite to integration along fibers is the existence of a well-defined orientation on those fibers. Let and be two orientable manifolds of pure dimensions and , respectively. Suppose that is a surjective submersion. This implies that each fiber is -dimensional and that, around each point of , there is a chart on which looks like the projection from a product onto one of its factors. Fix and set . Suppose that
:
and that does not vanish. Following , there is a unique
:
which may be thought of as the fibral part of with respect to . More precisely, define to be the inclusion. Then is defined by the property that
:
where
:
is any -covector for which
:
The form may also be notated .
Moreover, for fixed , varies smoothly with respect to . That is, suppose that
:
is a smooth section of the projection map; we say that is a smooth differential -form on along . Then there is a smooth differential -form on such that, at each ,
:
This form is denoted . The same construction works if is an -form in a neighborhood of the fiber, and the same notation is used. A consequence is that each fiber is orientable. In particular, a choice of orientation forms on and defines an orientation of every fiber of .
The analog of Fubini's theorem is as follows. As before, and are two orientable manifolds of pure dimensions and , and is a surjective submersion. Fix orientations of and , and give each fiber of the induced orientation. Let be an -form on , and let be an -form on that is almost everywhere positive with respect to the orientation of . Then, for almost every , the form is a well-defined integrable form on . Moreover, there is an integrable -form on defined by
:
Denote this form by
:
Then proves the generalized Fubini formula
:
It is also possible to integrate forms of other degrees along the fibers of a submersion. Assume the same hypotheses as before, and let be a compactly supported -form on . Then there is a -form on which is the result of integrating along the fibers of . The form is defined by specifying, at each , how pairs with each -vector at , and the value of that pairing is an integral over that depends only on , , and the orientations of and . More precisely, at each , there is an isomorphism
:
defined by the interior product
:
for any choice of volume form in the orientation of . If , then a -vector at determines an -covector at by pullback:
:
Each of these covectors has an exterior product against , so there is an -form on along defined by
:
This form depends on the orientation of but not the choice of . Then the -form is uniquely defined by the property
:
and is smooth . This form also denoted and called the integral of along the fibers of . Integration along fibers is important for the construction of Gysin maps in de Rham cohomology.
Integration along fibers satisfies the projection formula . If is any -form on , then
:
Stokes's theorem
The fundamental relationship between the exterior derivative and integration is given by the
Stokes' theorem: If is an ()-form with compact support on and denotes the
boundary
Boundary or Boundaries may refer to:
* Border, in political geography
Entertainment
* ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film
* ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film
*Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...
of with its induced
orientation
Orientation may refer to:
Positioning in physical space
* Map orientation, the relationship between directions on a map and compass directions
* Orientation (housing), the position of a building with respect to the sun, a concept in building de ...
, then
:
A key consequence of this is that "the integral of a closed form over homologous chains is equal": If is a closed -form and and are -chains that are homologous (such that is the boundary of a -chain ), then
, since the difference is the integral
.
For example, if is the derivative of a potential function on the plane or , then the integral of over a path from to does not depend on the choice of path (the integral is ), since different paths with given endpoints are
homotopic
In topology, a branch of mathematics, two continuous functions from one topological space to another are called homotopic (from grc, ὁμός "same, similar" and "place") if one can be "continuously deformed" into the other, such a deforma ...
, hence homologous (a weaker condition). This case is called the
gradient theorem
The gradient theorem, also known as the fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals, says that a line integral through a gradient field can be evaluated by evaluating the original scalar field at the endpoints of the curve. The theorem is ...
, and generalizes the
fundamental theorem of calculus
The fundamental theorem of calculus is a theorem that links the concept of differentiating a function (calculating its slopes, or rate of change at each time) with the concept of integrating a function (calculating the area under its graph, or ...
. This path independence is very useful in
contour integration
In the mathematical field of complex analysis, contour integration is a method of evaluating certain integrals along paths in the complex plane.
Contour integration is closely related to the calculus of residues, a method of complex analysis.
...
.
This theorem also underlies the duality between
de Rham cohomology and the
homology
Homology may refer to:
Sciences
Biology
*Homology (biology), any characteristic of biological organisms that is derived from a common ancestor
* Sequence homology, biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences
*Homologous chrom ...
of chains.
Relation with measures
On a ''general'' differentiable manifold (without additional structure), differential forms ''cannot'' be integrated over subsets of the manifold; this distinction is key to the distinction between differential forms, which are integrated over chains or oriented submanifolds, and measures, which are integrated over subsets. The simplest example is attempting to integrate the -form over the interval . Assuming the usual distance (and thus measure) on the real line, this integral is either or , depending on ''orientation:''
, while
. By contrast, the integral of the ''measure'' on the interval is unambiguously (i.e. the integral of the constant function with respect to this measure is ). Similarly, under a change of coordinates a differential -form changes by the
Jacobian determinant
In vector calculus, the Jacobian matrix (, ) of a vector-valued function of several variables is the matrix of all its first-order partial derivatives. When this matrix is square, that is, when the function takes the same number of variables ...
, while a measure changes by the ''absolute value'' of the Jacobian determinant, , which further reflects the issue of orientation. For example, under the map on the line, the differential form pulls back to ; orientation has reversed; while the
Lebesgue measure, which here we denote , pulls back to ; it does not change.
In the presence of the additional data of an ''orientation'', it is possible to integrate -forms (top-dimensional forms) over the entire manifold or over compact subsets; integration over the entire manifold corresponds to integrating the form over the
fundamental class
In mathematics, the fundamental class is a homology class 'M''associated to a connected orientable compact manifold of dimension ''n'', which corresponds to the generator of the homology group H_n(M,\partial M;\mathbf)\cong\mathbf . The fundam ...
of the manifold, . Formally, in the presence of an orientation, one may identify -forms with
densities on a manifold
In mathematics, and specifically differential geometry, a density is a spatially varying quantity on a differentiable manifold that can be integrated in an intrinsic manner. Abstractly, a density is a section of a certain line bundle, called t ...
; densities in turn define a measure, and thus can be integrated .
On an orientable but not oriented manifold, there are two choices of orientation; either choice allows one to integrate -forms over compact subsets, with the two choices differing by a sign. On non-orientable manifold, -forms and densities cannot be identified —notably, any top-dimensional form must vanish somewhere (there are no
volume form In mathematics, a volume form or top-dimensional form is a differential form of degree equal to the differentiable manifold dimension. Thus on a manifold M of dimension n, a volume form is an n-form. It is an element of the space of sections of th ...
s on non-orientable manifolds), but there are nowhere-vanishing densities— thus while one can integrate densities over compact subsets, one cannot integrate -forms. One can instead identify densities with top-dimensional
pseudoforms.
Even in the presence of an orientation, there is in general no meaningful way to integrate -forms over subsets for because there is no consistent way to use the ambient orientation to orient -dimensional subsets. Geometrically, a -dimensional subset can be turned around in place, yielding the same subset with the opposite orientation; for example, the horizontal axis in a plane can be rotated by 180 degrees. Compare the
Gram determinant of a set of vectors in an -dimensional space, which, unlike the determinant of vectors, is always positive, corresponding to a squared number. An orientation of a -submanifold is therefore extra data not derivable from the ambient manifold.
On a Riemannian manifold, one may define a -dimensional
Hausdorff measure
In mathematics, Hausdorff measure is a generalization of the traditional notions of area and volume to non-integer dimensions, specifically fractals and their Hausdorff dimensions. It is a type of outer measure, named for Felix Hausdorff, that as ...
for any (integer or real), which may be integrated over -dimensional subsets of the manifold. A function times this Hausdorff measure can then be integrated over -dimensional subsets, providing a measure-theoretic analog to integration of -forms. The -dimensional Hausdorff measure yields a density, as above.
Currents
The differential form analog of a
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
or generalized function is called a
current
Currents, Current or The Current may refer to:
Science and technology
* Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas
** Air current, a flow of air
** Ocean current, a current in the ocean
*** Rip current, a kind of water current
** Current (stre ...
. The space of -currents on is the dual space to an appropriate space of differential -forms. Currents play the role of generalized domains of integration, similar to but even more flexible than chains.
Applications in physics
Differential forms arise in some important physical contexts. For example, in Maxwell's theory of
electromagnetism
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of ...
, the Faraday 2-form, or
electromagnetic field strength
In electromagnetism, the electromagnetic tensor or electromagnetic field tensor (sometimes called the field strength tensor, Faraday tensor or Maxwell bivector) is a mathematical object that describes the electromagnetic field in spacetime. Th ...
, is
:
where the are formed from the electromagnetic fields
and
; e.g., , , or equivalent definitions.
This form is a special case of the
curvature form In differential geometry, the curvature form describes curvature of a connection on a principal bundle. The Riemann curvature tensor in Riemannian geometry can be considered as a special case.
Definition
Let ''G'' be a Lie group with Lie algeb ...
on the
principal bundle
In mathematics, a principal bundle is a mathematical object that formalizes some of the essential features of the Cartesian product X \times G of a space X with a group G. In the same way as with the Cartesian product, a principal bundle P is equi ...
on which both electromagnetism and general
gauge theories
In physics, a gauge theory is a type of field theory in which the Lagrangian (and hence the dynamics of the system itself) does not change (is invariant) under local transformations according to certain smooth families of operations (Lie group ...
may be described. The
connection form In mathematics, and specifically differential geometry, a connection form is a manner of organizing the data of a connection using the language of moving frames and differential forms.
Historically, connection forms were introduced by Élie Carta ...
for the principal bundle is the vector potential, typically denoted by , when represented in some gauge. One then has
:
The current -form is
:
where are the four components of the current density. (Here it is a matter of convention to write instead of , i.e. to use capital letters, and to write instead of . However, the vector rsp. tensor components and the above-mentioned forms have different physical dimensions. Moreover, by decision of an international commission of the
International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...
, the magnetic polarization vector has been called
for several decades, and by some publishers ; i.e., the same name is used for different quantities.)
Using the above-mentioned definitions,
Maxwell's equations
Maxwell's equations, or Maxwell–Heaviside equations, are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits.
...
can be written very compactly in
geometrized units
A geometrized unit system, geometric unit system or geometrodynamic unit system is a system of natural units in which the base physical units are chosen so that the speed of light in vacuum, ''c'', and the gravitational constant, ''G'', are set eq ...
as
:
where
denotes the
Hodge star
In mathematics, the Hodge star operator or Hodge star is a linear map defined on the exterior algebra of a finite-dimensional oriented vector space endowed with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. Applying the operator to an element of the ...
operator. Similar considerations describe the geometry of gauge theories in general.
The -form
, which is
dual to the Faraday form, is also called Maxwell 2-form.
Electromagnetism is an example of a
gauge theory. Here the
Lie group is , the one-dimensional
unitary group
In mathematics, the unitary group of degree ''n'', denoted U(''n''), is the group of unitary matrices, with the group operation of matrix multiplication. The unitary group is a subgroup of the general linear group . Hyperorthogonal group is ...
, which is in particular
abelian. There are gauge theories, such as
Yang–Mills theory
In mathematical physics, Yang–Mills theory is a gauge theory based on a special unitary group SU(''N''), or more generally any compact, reductive Lie algebra. Yang–Mills theory seeks to describe the behavior of elementary particles using ...
, in which the Lie group is not abelian. In that case, one gets relations which are similar to those described here. The analog of the field in such theories is the curvature form of the connection, which is represented in a gauge by a
Lie algebra-valued one-form . The Yang–Mills field is then defined by
:
In the abelian case, such as electromagnetism, , but this does not hold in general. Likewise the field equations are modified by additional terms involving exterior products of and , owing to the
structure equations of the gauge group.
Applications in geometric measure theory
Numerous minimality results for complex analytic manifolds are based on the
Wirtinger inequality for 2-forms. A succinct proof may be found in
Herbert Federer
Herbert Federer (July 23, 1920 – April 21, 2010) was an American mathematician. He is one of the creators of geometric measure theory, at the meeting point of differential geometry and mathematical analysis.Parks, H. (2012''Remembering Herbert ...
's classic text ''Geometric Measure Theory''. The Wirtinger inequality is also a key ingredient in
Gromov's inequality for complex projective space
In Riemannian geometry, Gromov's optimal stable 2- systolic inequality is the inequality
: \mathrm_2^n \leq n!
\;\mathrm_(\mathbb^n),
valid for an arbitrary Riemannian metric on the complex projective space, where the optimal bound is attained
b ...
in
systolic geometry.
See also
*
Closed and exact differential forms In mathematics, especially vector calculus and differential topology, a closed form is a differential form ''α'' whose exterior derivative is zero (), and an exact form is a differential form, ''α'', that is the exterior derivative of another diff ...
*
Complex differential form
In mathematics, a complex differential form is a differential form on a manifold (usually a complex manifold) which is permitted to have complex coefficients.
Complex forms have broad applications in differential geometry. On complex manifol ...
*
Vector-valued differential form In mathematics, a vector-valued differential form on a manifold ''M'' is a differential form on ''M'' with values in a vector space ''V''. More generally, it is a differential form with values in some vector bundle ''E'' over ''M''. Ordinary differe ...
*
Equivariant differential form In differential geometry, an equivariant differential form on a manifold ''M'' acted upon by a Lie group ''G'' is a polynomial map
:\alpha: \mathfrak \to \Omega^*(M)
from the Lie algebra \mathfrak = \operatorname(G) to the space of differential fo ...
*
''Calculus on Manifolds''
*
Multilinear form
In abstract algebra and multilinear algebra, a multilinear form on a vector space V over a field K is a map
:f\colon V^k \to K
that is separately ''K''-linear in each of its ''k'' arguments. More generally, one can define multilinear forms on ...
*
Polynomial differential form In algebra, the ring of polynomial differential forms on the standard ''n''-simplex is the differential graded algebra:
:\Omega^*_( = \mathbb _0, ..., t_n, dt_0, ..., dt_n(\sum t_i - 1, \sum dt_i).
Varying ''n'', it determines the simplicial comm ...
Notes
References
*
*
* —Translation of ''Formes différentielles'' (1967)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
* , a course taught at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
.
* , an undergraduate text.
*
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Differential geometry