Loring W.

Tu

Differential Geometry:
Connections, Curvature, and
Characteristic Classes
April 8, 2017

Springer
Berlin Heidelberg New York
Hong Kong London
Milan Paris Tokyo
Loring W. Tu
Department of Mathematics
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155
loring.tu@tufts.edu

Loring
c W. Tu 2017
Preface

Differential geometry has a long and glorious history. As its name implies, it is the
study of geometry using differential calculus, and as such, it dates back to Newton
and Leibniz in the seventeenth century. But it was not until the nineteenth century,
with the work of Gauss on surfaces and Riemann on the curvature tensor, that dif-
ferential geometry flourished and its modern foundation was laid. Over the past one
hundred years, differential geometry has proven indispensable to an understanding
of the physical world, in Einstein’s general theory of relativity, in the theory of gravi-
tation, in gauge theory, and now in string theory. Differential geometry is also useful
in topology, several complex variables, algebraic geometry, complex manifolds, and
dynamical systems, among other fields. It has even found applications to group the-
ory as in Gromov’s work and to probability theory as in Diaconis’s work. It is not
too far-fetched to argue that differential geometry should be in every mathematician’s
arsenal.
The basic objects in differential geometry are manifolds endowed with a metric,
which is essentially a way of measuring the length of vectors. A metric gives rise to
the notions of distance, angle, area, volume, curvature, straightness, and geodesics.
It is the presence of a metric that distinguishes geometry from topology. However,
another concept that might contest the primacy of a metric in differential geometry
is that of a connection. A connection in a vector bundle may be thought of as a
way of differentiating sections of the vector bundle. A metric determines a unique
connection called a Riemannian connection with certain desirable properties. While
a connection is not as intuitive as a metric, it already gives rise to curvature and
geodesics. With this, the connection can also lay claim to be a fundamental notion
of differential geometry.
Indeed, in 1989, the great geometer S. S. Chern wrote as the editor of a volume
on global differential geometry [5], “The Editor is convinced that the notion of a
connection in a vector bundle will soon find its way into a class on advanced calculus,
as it is a fundamental notion and its applications are wide-spread.”
In 1977, the Nobel-prize winning physicist C. N. Yang wrote in [23], “Gauge
fields are deeply related to some profoundly beautiful ideas of contemporary math-
ematics, ideas that are the driving forces of part of the mathematics of the last 40
vi

years, ... , the theory of fiber bundles.” Convinced that gauge fields are related
to connections on fiber bundles, he tried to learn fiber-bundle theory from several
mathematical classics on the subject, but “learned nothing. The language of modern
mathematics is too cold and abstract for a physicist” [24, p. 73].
While the definition and formal properties of a connection on a principal bun-
dle can be given in a few pages, it is difficult to understand its meaning without
knowing how it came into being. The present book is an introduction to differential
geometry that follows the historical development of the concepts of connection and
curvature, with the goal of explaining the Chern–Weil theory of characteristic classes
on a principal bundle. The goal, once fixed, dictates the choice of topics. Starting
with directional derivatives in an Euclidean space, we introduce and successively
generalize connections and curvature from a tangent bundle to a vector bundle and
finally to a principal bundle. Along the way, the narrative provides a panorama of
some of the high points in the history of differential geometry, for example, Gauss’
Theorema Egregium and the Gauss–Bonnet theorem.
Initially, the prerequisites are minimal; a passing acquaintance with manifolds
suffices. Starting with Section 11, it becomes necessary to understand and be able to
manipulate differential forms. Beyond Section 22, a knowledge of de Rham coho-
mology is required. All of this is contained in my book An Introduction to Manifolds
[21], and can be learned in one semester. It is my fervent hope that the present book
will be accessible to physicists as well as mathematicians. For the benefit of the
reader and to establish common notations, we recall in Appendix A the basics of
manifold theory. In an attempt to make the exposition more self-contained, I have
also included sections on algebraic constructions such as the tensor product and the
exterior power.
In two decades of teaching from this manuscript, I have generally been able to
cover the first twenty-five sections in one semester, assuming a one-semester course
on manifolds as the prerequisite. By judiciously leaving some of the sections as
independent reading material, for example, Sections 9, 15, and 26, I have been able
to cover the first thirty sections in one semester.
Every book reflects the biases and interests of its author. This book is no excep-
tion. For a different perspective, the reader may find it profitable to consult other
books. After having read this one, it should be easier to read the others. There are
many good books on differential geometry, each with its particular emphasis. Some
of the ones I have liked include Boothby [1], Conlon [6], do Carmo [7], Kobayashi
and Nomizu [12], Lee [14], Millman and Parker [16], Spivak [19], and Taubes [20].
For applications to physics, see Frankel [9].
As a student, I attended many lectures of Phillip A. Griffiths and Raoul Bott on
algebraic and differential geometry. It is a pleasure to acknowledge their influence.
I want to thank Andreas Arvanitoyeorgos, Jeffrey D. Carlson, Benoit Charbonneau,
Hanci Chi, Brendan Foley, George Leger, Shibo Liu, Ishan Mata, Steven Scott, and
Huaiyu Zhang for their careful proofreading, useful comments, and errata lists. Jef-
frey D. Carlson in particular should be singled out for the many excellent pieces
of advice he has given me over the years. I also want to thank Bruce Boghosian for
helping me with Mathematica and for preparing the figure of the Frenet–Serret frame
 vii

(Figure 2.5). Finally, I am grateful to the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in
Bonn, National Taiwan University, and the National Center for Theoretical Sciences
in Taipei for hosting me during the the preparation of this manuscript.

Medford, Massachusetts Loring W. Tu

April 2017
Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

Frontispiece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 Curvature and Vector Fields

§1 Riemannian Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1 Inner Products on a Vector Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Representations of Inner Products by Symmetric Matrices . . . . . . 5
1.3 Riemannian Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Existence of a Riemannian Metric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
§2 Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Regular Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Arc Length Parametrization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Signed Curvature of a Plane Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Orientation and Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
§3 Surfaces in Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 Principal, Mean, and Gaussian Curvatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Gauss’s Theorema Egregium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 The Gauss–Bonnet Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
§4 Directional Derivatives in Euclidean Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1 Directional Derivatives in Euclidean Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.2 Other Properties of the Directional Derivative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3 Vector Fields Along a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.4 Vector Fields Along a Submanifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.5 Directional Derivatives on a Submanifold of Rn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
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Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
§5 The Shape Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.1 Normal Vector Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.2 The Shape Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.3 Curvature and the Shape Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.4 The First and Second Fundamental Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.5 The Catenoid and the Helicoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
§6 Affine Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.1 Affine Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.2 Torsion and Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.3 The Riemannian Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.4 Orthogonal Projection on a Surface in R3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.5 The Riemannian Connection on a Surface in R3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
§7 Vector Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.1 Definition of a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.2 The Vector Space of Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7.3 Extending a Local Section to a Global Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
7.4 Local Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.5 Restriction of a Local Operator to an Open Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.6 Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.7 F-Linearity and Bundle Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.8 Multilinear Maps over Smooth Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
§8 Gauss’s Theorema Egregium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.1 The Gauss and Codazzi–Mainardi Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.2 A Proof of the Theorema Egregium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8.3 The Gaussian Curvature in Terms of an Arbitrary Basis . . . . . . . . 66
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
§9 Generalizations to Hypersurfaces in Rn+1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
9.1 The Shape Operator of a Hypersurface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
9.2 The Riemannian Connection of a Hypersurface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9.3 The Second Fundamental Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
9.4 The Gauss Curvature and Codazzi–Mainardi Equations . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 2 Curvature and Differential Forms

§10 Connections on a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

10.1 Connections on a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
10.2 Existence of a Connection on a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
10.3 Curvature of a Connection on a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
10.4 Riemannian Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
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10.5 Metric Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

10.6 Restricting a Connection to an Open Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
10.7 Connections at a Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
§11 Connection, Curvature, and Torsion Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
11.1 Connection and Curvature Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
11.2 Connections on a Framed Open Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.3 The Gram–Schmidt Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.4 Metric Connection Relative to an Orthonormal Frame . . . . . . . . . . 84
11.5 Connections on the Tangent Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
§12 The Theorema Egregium Using Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
12.1 The Gauss Curvature Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
12.2 The Theorema Egregium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
12.3 Skew-Symmetries of the Curvature Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
12.4 Sectional Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
12.5 Poincaré Half-Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Chapter 3 Geodesics

§13 More on Affine Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

13.1 Covariant Differentiation Along a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
13.2 Connection-Preserving Diffeomorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
13.3 Christoffel Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
§14 Geodesics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
14.1 The Definition of a Geodesic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
14.2 Reparametrization of a Geodesic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
14.3 Existence of Geodesics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
14.4 Geodesics in the Poincaré Half-Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
14.5 Parallel Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
14.6 Existence of Parallel Translation Along a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
14.7 Parallel Translation on a Riemannian Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
§15 Exponential Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
15.1 The Exponential Map of a Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
15.2 The Differential of the Exponential Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
15.3 Normal Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
15.4 Left-Invariant Vector Fields on a Lie Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
15.5 Exponential Map for a Lie Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
15.6 Naturality of the Exponential Map for a Lie Group . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
15.7 Adjoint Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
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15.8 Associativity of a Bi-Invariant Metric on a Lie Group . . . . . . . . . . 126

Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
15.9 Addendum. The Exponential Map as a Natural Transformation . . 129
§16 Distance and Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
16.1 Distance in a Riemannian Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
16.2 Geodesic Completeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
16.3 Dual 1-Forms Under a Change of Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
16.4 Volume Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
16.5 The Volume Form in Local Coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
§17 The Gauss–Bonnet Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
17.1 Geodesic Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
17.2 The Angle Function Along a Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
17.3 Signed Geodesic Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
17.4 Gauss–Bonnet Formula for a Polygon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
17.5 Triangles on a Riemannian 2-Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
17.6 Gauss–Bonnet Theorem for a Surface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
17.7 Gauss–Bonnet Theorem for a Hypersurface in R2n+1 . . . . . . . . . . 150
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Chapter 4 Tools from Algebra and Topology

§18 The Tensor Product and the Dual Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

18.1 Construction of the Tensor Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
18.2 Universal Mapping Property for Bilinear Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
18.3 Characterization of the Tensor Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
18.4 A Basis for the Tensor Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
18.5 The Dual Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
18.6 Identities for the Tensor Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
18.7 Functoriality of the Tensor Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
18.8 Generalization to Multilinear Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
18.9 Associativity of the Tensor Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
18.10 The Tensor Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
§19 The Exterior Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
19.1 The Exterior Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
19.2 Properties of the Wedge Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
19.3 Universal Mapping Property for Alternating k-Linear Maps . . . . . 170
V
19.4 A Basis for k V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
19.5 Nondegenerate Pairings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
V V
19.6 A Nondegenerate Pairing of k (V ∨ ) with k V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
19.7 A Formula for the Wedge Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
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Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
§20 Operations on Vector Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
20.1 Vector Subbundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
20.2 Subbundle Criterion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
20.3 Quotient Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
20.4 The Pullback Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
20.5 Examples of the Pullback Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
20.6 The Direct Sum of Vector Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
20.7 Other Operations on Vector Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
§21 Vector-Valued Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
21.1 Vector-Valued Forms as Sections of a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . 190
21.2 Products of Vector-Valued Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
21.3 Directional Derivative of a Vector-Valued Function . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
21.4 Exterior Derivative of a Vector-Valued Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
21.5 Differential Forms with Values in a Lie Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
21.6 Pullback of Vector-Valued Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
21.7 Forms with Values in a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
21.8 Tensor Fields on a Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
21.9 The Tensor Criterion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
21.10 Remark on Signs Concerning Vector-Valued Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Chapter 5 Vector Bundles and Characteristic Classes

§22 Connections and Curvature Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

22.1 Connection and Curvature Matrices Under a Change of Frame . . . 205
22.2 Bianchi Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
22.3 The First Bianchi Identity in Vector Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
22.4 Symmetry Properties of the Curvature Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
22.5 Covariant Derivative of Tensor Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
22.6 The Second Bianchi Identity in Vector Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
22.7 Ricci Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
22.8 Scalar Curvature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
22.9 Defining a Connection Using Connection Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
22.10 Induced Connection on a Pullback Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
§23 Characteristic Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
23.1 Invariant Polynomials on gl(r, R) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
23.2 The Chern–Weil Homomorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
23.3 Characteristic Forms are Closed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
23.4 Differential Forms Depending on a Real Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
23.5 Independence of Characteristic Classes of a Connection . . . . . . . . 222
xiv Contents

23.6 Functorial Definition of a Characteristic Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

23.7 Naturality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
§24 Pontrjagin Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
24.1 Vanishing of Characteristic Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
24.2 Pontrjagin Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
24.3 The Whitney Product Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
§25 The Euler Class and Chern Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
25.1 Orientation on a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
25.2 Characteristic Classes of an Oriented Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . 233
25.3 The Pfaffian of a Skew-Symmetric Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
25.4 The Euler Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
25.5 Generalized Gauss–Bonnet Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
25.6 Hermitian Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
25.7 Connections and Curvature on a Complex Vector Bundle . . . . . . . 238
25.8 Chern Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
§26 Some Applications of Characteristic Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
26.1 The Generalized Gauss–Bonnet Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
26.2 Characteristic Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
26.3 The Cobordism Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
26.4 The Embedding Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
26.5 The Hirzebruch Signature Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
26.6 The Riemann–Roch Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Chapter 6 Principal Bundles and Characteristic Classes

§27 Principal Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

27.1 Principal Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
27.2 The Frame Bundle of a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
27.3 Fundamental Vector Fields of a Right Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
27.4 Integral Curves of a Fundamental Vector Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
27.5 Vertical Subbundle of the Tangent Bundle T P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
27.6 Horizontal Distributions on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
§28 Connections on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
28.1 Connections on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
28.2 Vertical and Horizontal Components of a Tangent Vector . . . . . . . 260
28.3 The Horizontal Distribution of an Ehresmann Connection. . . . . . . 261
28.4 Horizontal Lift of a Vector Field to a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . 263
28.5 Lie Bracket of a Fundamental Vector Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
§29 Horizontal Distributions on a Frame Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
 Contents xv

29.1 Parallel Translation in a Vector Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

29.2 Horizontal Vectors on a Frame Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
29.3 Horizontal Lift of a Vector Field to a Frame Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
29.4 Pullback of a Connection on a Frame Bundle Under a Section . . . 272
§30 Curvature on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
30.1 Curvature Form on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
30.2 Properties of the Curvature Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
§31 Covariant Derivative on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
31.1 The Associated Bundle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
31.2 The Fiber of the Associated Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
31.3 Tensorial Forms on a Principal Bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
31.4 Covariant Derivative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
31.5 A Formula for the Covariant Derivative of a Tensorial Form . . . . . 286
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
§32 Characteristic Classes of Principal Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
32.1 Invariant Polynomials on a Lie Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
32.2 The Chern–Weil Homomorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Appendix

§A Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
A.1 Manifolds and Smooth Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
A.2 Tangent Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
A.3 Vector Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
A.4 Differential Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
A.5 Exterior Differentiation on a Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
A.6 Exterior Differentiation on R3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
A.7 Pullback of Differential Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
§B Invariant Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
B.1 Polynomials Versus Polynomial Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
B.2 Polynomial Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
B.3 Invariant Polynomials on gl(r, F) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
B.4 Invariant Complex Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
B.5 L-Polynomials, Todd Polynomials, and the Chern Character . . . . . 317
B.6 Invariant Real Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
B.7 Newton’s Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Hints and Solutions to Selected End-of-Section Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

xvi Contents

List of Notations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
A Circle Bundle over a Circle by Lun-Yi Tsai and Zachary Treisman, 2010.
Welded stainless steel and latex sheeting.
Printed with permission of Lun-Yi Tsai.
Chapter 1
Curvature and Vector Fields

By a manifold, we will always mean a smooth manifold. To understand this book, it

is helpful to have had some prior exposure to the theory of manifolds. The reference
[21] contains all the background needed. For the benefit of the reader, we review in
Appendix A, mostly without proofs, some of the definitions and basic properties of
manifolds.
Appendix A concerns smooth maps, differentials,
vector fields, and differential forms on a manifold.
These are part of the differential topology of mani-
folds. The focus of this book is instead on the dif-
ferential geometry of manifolds. Now a manifold
will be endowed with an additional structure called
a Riemannian metric, which gives a way of mea-
suring length. In differential geometry, the notions
of length, distance, angles, area, and volume make
sense, whereas in differential topology, since a mani-
fold can be stretched and still be diffeomorphic to the
original, these concepts obviously do not make sense.
Some of the central problems in differential ge-
ometry originate in everyday life. Consider the prob- Bernhard Riemann
lem in cartography of representing the surface of the
(1826–1866)
earth on a flat piece of paper. A good map should
show accurately distances between any two points.
Experience suggests that this is not possible on a large scale. We are all familiar
with the Mercator projection which vastly distorts countries near the north and south
poles. On a small scale there are fairly good maps, but are they merely approxima-
tions or can there be truly accurate maps in a mathematical sense? In other words, is
there a distance-preserving bijection from an open subset of the sphere to some open
subset of the plane? Such a map is an isometry.
Isometry is also related to a problem in industrial design. Certain shapes such as
circular cylinders and cones are easy to manufacture because they can be obtained
from a flat sheet by bending. If we take a sheet of paper and bend it in various ways,
4 §1 Riemannian Manifolds

we obtain infinitely many surfaces in space, and yet none of them appear to be a
portion of a sphere or an ellipsoid. Which shapes can be obtained from one another
by bending?
In 1827 Carl Friedrich Gauss laid the foundation for the differential geometry
of surfaces in his work Disquisitiones generales circa superficies curvas (General
investigation of curved surfaces). One of his great achievements was the proof of
the invariance of Gaussian curvature under distance-preserving maps. This result
is known as Gauss’s Theorema Egregium, which means “remarkable theorem” in
Latin. By the Theorema Egregium, one can use the Gaussian curvature to distin-
guish non-isometric surfaces. In the first eight sections of this book, our goal is to
introduce enough basic constructions of differential geometry to prove the Theorema
Egregium.

§1 Riemannian Manifolds
A Riemannian metric is essentially a smoothly varying inner product on the tangent
space at each point of a manifold. In this section we recall some generalities about
an inner product on a vector space and by means of a partition of unity argument,
prove the existence of a Riemannian metric on any manifold.

1.1 Inner Products on a Vector Space

A point u in R3 will denote either an ordered triple (u1 , u2 , u3 ) of real numbers or a
column vector  1
u
 u2  .
u3
The Euclidean inner product, or the dot product, on R3 is defined by
3
hu, vi = ∑ ui vi .
i=1

In terms of this, one can define the length of a vector

p
kvk = hv, vi, (1.1)

the angle θ between two nonzero vectors (Figure 1.1)

hu, vi
cos θ = , 0 ≤ θ ≤ π, (1.2)
kukkvk

and the arc length of a parametrized curve c(t) in R3 , a ≤ t ≤ b:

Z b
s= kc′ (t)k dt.
a
 1.2 Representations of Inner Products by Symmetric Matrices 5

θ u

Fig. 1.1. The angle between two vectors.

Definition 1.1. An inner product on a real vector space V is a positive-definite,

symmetric, bilinear form h , i : V × V → R. This means that for u, v, w ∈ V and
a, b ∈ R,
(i) (positive-definiteness) hv, vi ≥ 0; the equality holds if and only if v = 0.
(ii) (symmetry) hu, vi = hv, ui.
(iii) (bilinearity) hau + bv, wi = ahu, wi + bhv, wi.

As stated, condition (iii) is linearity in only the first argument. However, by the
symmetry property (ii), condition (iii) implies linearity in the second argument as
well.
Proposition 1.2 (Restriction of an inner product to a subspace). Let h , i be an
inner product on a vector space V . If W is a subspace of V , then the restriction

h , iW := h , i|W ×W : W × W → R

is an inner product on W .
Proof. Problem 1.3. ⊔
⊓
Proposition 1.3 (Nonnegative linear combination of inner products). Let h , ii ,
i = 1, . . . , r, be inner products on a vector V and let a1 , . . . , ar be nonnegative real
numbers with at least one ai > 0. Then the linear combination h , i := ∑ ai h , ii is
again an inner product on V .
Proof. Problem 1.4. ⊔
⊓

1.2 Representations of Inner Products by Symmetric Matrices

Let e1 , . . . , en be a basis for a vector space V . Relative to this basis we can represent
vectors in V as column vectors:
 1  1
x y
i  ..  i  .. 
∑ x ei ←→ x =  .  , ∑ y ei ←→ y =  .  .
xn yn

By bilinearity, an inner product on V is determined completely by its values on a set

of basis vectors. Let A be the n × n matrix whose entries are
6 §1 Riemannian Manifolds

ai j = hei , e j i.
By the symmetry of the inner product, A is a symmetric matrix. In terms of column
vectors,

∑ xi ei , ∑ y j e j = ∑ ai j xi y j = xT Ay.
Definition 1.4. An n × n symmetric matrix A is said to be positive-definite if
(i) xT Ax ≥ 0 for all x in Rn , and
(ii) equality holds if and only if x = 0.

Thus, once a basis on V is chosen, an inner product on V determines a positive-

definite symmetric matrix.
Conversely, if A is an n × n positive-definite symmetric matrix and {e1 , . . . , en }
is a basis for V , then


∑ xi ei , ∑ yi ei = ∑ ai j xi y j = xT Ay
defines an inner product on V . (Problem 1.1.)
It follows that there is a one-to-one correspondence
   
inner products on a vector n × n positive-definite
←→ .
space V of dimension n symmetric matrices
The dual space V ∨ of a vector space V is by definition Hom(V, R), the space of
all linear maps from V to R. Let α 1 , . . . , α n be the basis for V ∨ dual to the basis
e1 , . . . , en for V . If x = ∑ xi ei ∈ V , then α i (x) = xi . Thus, with x = ∑ xi ei , y = ∑ y j e j ,
and hei , e j i = ai j , one has
hx, yi = ∑ ai j xi y j = ∑ ai j α i (x)α j (y)
= ∑ ai j (α i ⊗ α j )(x, y).
So in terms of the tensor product, an inner product h , i on V may be written as
h , i = ∑ ai j α i ⊗ α j ,
where [ai j ] is an n × n positive-definite symmetric matrix.

1.3 Riemannian Metrics

Definition 1.5. A Riemannian metric on a manifold M is the assignment to each
point p in M of an inner product h , i p on the tangent space Tp M; moreover, the
assignment p 7→ h , i p is required to be C∞ in the following sense: if X and Y are
C∞ vector fields on M, then p 7→ hX p ,Yp i p is a C∞ function on M. A Riemannian
manifold is a pair (M, h , i) consisting of a manifold M together with a Riemannian
metric h , i on M.

The length of a tangent vector v ∈ Tp M and the angle between two tangent vectors
u, v ∈ Tp M on a Riemannian manifold are defined by the same formulas (1.1) and
(1.2) as in R3 .
 1.3 Riemannian Metrics 7

Example 1.6. Since all the tangent spaces Tp Rn for points p in Rn are canonically
isomorphic to Rn , the Euclidean inner product on Rn gives rise to a Riemannian
metric on Rn , called the Euclidean metric on Rn .

Example 1.7. Recall that a submanifold M of a manifold N is said to be regular if

locally it is defined by the vanishing of a set of coordinates [21, Section 9]. Thus,
locally a regular submanifold looks like a k-plane in Rn . By a surface M in R3
we will mean a 2-dimensional regular submanifold of R3 . At each point p in M,
the tangent space Tp M is a vector subspace of Tp R3 . The Euclidean metric on R3
restricts to a function
h , iM : Tp M × Tp M → R,
which is clearly positive-definite, symmetric, and bilinear. Thus a surface in R3
inherits a Riemannian metric from the Euclidean metric on R3 .

Recall that if F : N → M is a C∞ map of smooth manifolds and p ∈ N is a point in

N, then the differential F∗ : Tp N → T f (p) M is the linear map of tangent spaces given
by
(F∗ X p )g = X p (g ◦ F)
for any X p ∈ Tp N and any C∞ function g defined on a neighborhood of F(p) in M.
Definition 1.8. A C∞ map F : (N, h , i′ ) → (M, h , i) of Riemannian manifolds is
said to be metric-preserving if for all p ∈ N and tangent vectors u, v ∈ Tp N,

hu, vi′p = hF∗ u, F∗ viF(p) . (1.3)

An isometry is a metric-preserving diffeomorphism.

Example 1.9. If F : N → M is a diffeomorphism and h , i is a Riemannian metric on

M, then (1.3) defines an induced Riemannian metric h , i′ on N.

Example 1.10. Let N and M be the unit circle in C. Define F : N → M, a 2-sheeted

covering space map, by F(z) = z2 . Give M a Riemannian metric h , i, for example,
the Euclidean metric as a subspace of R2 , and define h , i′ on N by

hv, wi′ = hF∗ v, F∗ wi.

Then h , i′ is a Riemannian metric on N. The map F : N → M is metric-preserving

but not an isometry because F is not a diffeomorphism.

Example 1.11. A torus in R3 inherits the Euclidean metric from R3 . However, a

torus is also the quotient space of R2 by the group Z2 acting as translations, or to
put it more plainly, the quotient space of a square with the opposite edges identified
(see [21, §7] for quotient spaces). In this way, it inherits a Riemannian metric from
R2 . With these two Riemannian metrics, the torus becomes two distinct Riemannian
manifolds (Figure 1.2). We will show later that there is no isometry between these
two Riemannian manifolds with the same underlying torus.
8 §1 Riemannian Manifolds

Fig. 1.2. Two Riemannian metrics on the torus.

1.4 Existence of a Riemannian Metric

A smooth manifold M is locally diffeomorphic to an open subset of a Euclidean
space. The local diffeomorphism defines a Riemannian metric on a coordinate open
set (U, x1 , . . . , xn ) by the same formula as for Rn . We will write ∂i for the coordinate
vector field ∂ /∂ xi . If X = ∑ ai ∂i and Y = ∑ b j ∂ j , then the formula

hX,Y i = ∑ ai bi (1.4)

defines a Riemannian metric on U.

To construct a Riemannian metric on M one needs to piece together the Rieman-
nian metrics on the various coordinate open sets of an atlas. The standard tool for
this is the partition of unity, whose definition we recall now. A collection {Sα } of
subsets of a topological space S is said to be locally finite if every point p ∈ S has a
neighborhood U p that intersects only finitely many of the subsets Sα . The support of
a function f : S → R is the closure of the subset of S on which f 6= 0:

supp f = cl{x ∈ S | f (x) 6= 0}.

Suppose {Uα }α ∈A is an open cover of a manifold M. A collection of nonnegative

C∞ functions
ρα : M → R, α ∈ A,
is called a C∞ partition of unity subordinate to {Uα } if
(i) supp ρα ⊂ Uα for all α ,
(ii) the collection of supports, {supp ρα }α ∈A , is locally finite,
(iii) ∑α ∈A ρα = 1.
The local finiteness of the supports guarantees that every point p has a neighborhood
U p over which the sum in (iii) is a finite sum. (For the existence of a C∞ partition of
unity, see [21, Appendix C].)

Theorem 1.12. On every manifold M there is a Riemannian metric.

Proof. Let {(Uα , φα )} be an atlas on M. Using the coordinates on Uα , we define

as in (1.4) a Riemannian metric h , iα on Uα . Let {ρα } be a partition of unity sub-
ordinate to {Uα }. By the local finiteness of the collection {supp ρα }, every point
p has a neighborhood U p on which only finitely many of the ρα ’s are nonzero.
 1.4 Existence of a Riemannian Metric 9

Thus, ∑ ρα h , iα is a finite sum on U p . By Proposition 1.3, at each point p the

sum ∑ ρα h , iα is an inner product on Tp M.
To show that ∑ ρα h , iα is C∞ , let X and Y be C∞ vector fields on M. Since
∑ ρα hX,Y iα is a finite sum of C∞ functions on U p , it is C∞ on U p . Since p was
arbitrary, ∑ ρα hX,Y iα is C∞ on M. ⊔
⊓

Problems

1.1.∗ Positive-definite symmetric matrix

Show that if A is an n × n positive-definite symmetric matrix and {e1 , . . . , en } is a basis for V ,
then D E
∑ xi ei , ∑ yi ei = ∑ ai j xi y j = xT Ay
defines an inner product on V .
1.2.∗ Inner product
Let V be an inner product space with inner product h , i. For u, v in V , prove that hu, wi = hv, wi
for all w in V if and only if u = v.
1.3. Restriction of an inner product to a subspace
Prove Proposition 1.2.
1.4.∗ Positive linear combination of inner products
Prove Proposition 1.3.
1.5.∗ Extending a vector to a vector field
Let M be a manifold. Show that for any tangent vector v ∈ Tp M, there is a C∞ vector field X
on M such that X p = v.
1.6.∗ Equality of vector fields
Suppose (M, h , i) is a Riemannian manifold. Show that two C∞ vector fields X,Y ∈ X(M)
are equal if and only if hX, Zi = hY, Zi for all C∞ vector fields Z ∈ X(M).
1.7.∗ Upper half-plane
Let
H2 = {(x, y) ∈ R2 | y > 0}.
At each point p = (x, y) ∈ H2 , define
h , iH2 : Tp H2 × Tp H2 → R
by
1
hu, viH2 = hu, vi,
y2
where h , i is the usual Euclidean inner product. Show that h , iH2 is a Riemannian metric on
H2 .

1.8. Product rule in Rn

If f , g : R → Rn are differentiable vector-valued functions, show that h f , gi : R → R is differ-
entiable and
h f , gi′ = h f ′ , gi + h f , g′ i.
(Here f ′ means d f /dt.)
10 §1 Riemannian Manifolds

1.9. Product rule in an inner product space

An inner product space (V, h , i) is automatically a normed vector space, with norm kvk =
p
hv, vi. The derivative of a function f : R → V is defined to be

f (t + h) − f (t)
f ′ (t) = lim ,
h→0 h
provided that the limit exists, where the limit is taken with respect to the norm k k. If f , g : R →
V are differentiable functions, show that h f , gi : R → R is differentiable and

h f , gi′ = h f ′ , gi + h f , g′ i.
Appendices

§A Manifolds
This appendix is a review, mostly without proofs, of the basic notions in the theory
of manifolds and differential forms. For more details, see [21].

A.1 Manifolds and Smooth Maps

We will be following the convention of classical differential geometry in which vec-
tor fields take on subscripts, differential forms take on superscripts, and coefficient
functions can have either superscripts or subscripts depending on whether they are
coefficient functions of vector fields or of differential forms. See [21, §4.7, p. 44] for
a more detailed explanation of this convention.
A manifold is a higher-dimensional analogue of a smooth curve or surface. Its
prototype is the Euclidean space Rn , with coordinates r1 , . . . , rn . Let U be an open
subset of Rn . A function f = ( f 1 , . . . , f m ) : U → Rm is smooth on U if the partial
derivatives ∂ k f /∂ r j1 · · · ∂ r jk exist on U for all integers k ≥ 1 and all j1 , . . . , jk . In this
book we use the terms “smooth” and “C∞ ” interchangeably.
A topological space M is locally Euclidean of dimension n if for every point p in
M, there is a homeomorphism φ of a neighborhood U of p with an open subset of Rn .
Such a pair (U, φ : U → Rn ) is called a coordinate chart or simply a chart. If p ∈ U,
then we say that (U, φ ) is a chart about p. A collection of charts {(Uα , φα : Uα →
Rn )} is C∞ compatible if for every α and β , the transition function

φα ◦ φβ−1 : φβ (Uα ∩Uβ ) → φα (Uα ∩Uβ )

is C∞ . A collection of C∞ compatible charts {(Uα , φα : Uα → Rn )} that cover M is

called a C∞ atlas. A C∞ atlas is said to be maximal if it contains every chart that is
C∞ compatible with all the charts in the atlas.
Definition A.1. A topological manifold is a Hausdorff, second countable, locally
Euclidean topological space. By “second countable,” we mean that the space has
298 §A Manifolds

a countable basis of open sets. A smooth or C∞ manifold is a pair consisting of a

topological manifold M and a maximal C∞ atlas {(Uα , φα )} on M. In this book all
manifolds will be smooth manifolds.

In the definition of a manifold, the Hausdorff condition excludes certain patho-

logical examples, while the second countability condition guarantees the existence
of a partition of unity, a useful technical tool that we will define shortly.
In practice, to show that a Hausdorff, second countable topological space is a
smooth manifold it suffices to exhibit a C∞ atlas, for by Zorn’s lemma every C∞ atlas
is contained in a unique maximal atlas.

Example A.2. Let S1 be the circle defined by x2 + y2 = 1 in R2 , with open sets (see
Figure A.1)

Ux+ = {(x, y) ∈ S1 | x > 0},

Ux− = {(x, y) ∈ S1 | x < 0},
Uy+ = {(x, y) ∈ S1 | y > 0},
Uy− = {(x, y) ∈ S1 | y < 0}.

Uy+
bc

bc bc Ux− Ux+

bc

S1 Uy−

Fig. A.1. A C∞ atlas on S1 .

Then {(Ux+ , y), (Ux− , y), (Uy+ , x), (Uy− , x)} is a C∞ atlas on S1 . For example, the tran-
sition function from

the open interval ]0, 1[ = x(Ux+ ∩Uy− ) → y(Ux+ ∩Uy− ) = ] − 1, 0[

√
is y = − 1 − x2, which is C∞ on its domain.

A function f : M → Rn on a manifold M is said to be smooth or C∞ at p ∈ M if

there is a chart (U, φ ) about p in the maximal atlas of M such that the function

f ◦ φ −1 : Rm ⊃ φ (U) → Rn
 A.2 Tangent Vectors 299

is C∞ . The function f : M → Rn is said to be smooth or C∞ on M if it is C∞ at every

point of M. Recall that an algebra over R is a vector space together with a bilinear
map µ : A × A → A, called multiplication, such that under addition and multiplica-
tion, A becomes a ring. Under addition, multiplication, and scalar multiplication, the
set of all C∞ functions f : M → R is an algebra over R, denoted by C∞ (M).
A map F : N → M between two manifolds is smooth or C∞ at p ∈ N if there is a
chart (U, φ ) about p in N and a chart (V, ψ ) about F(p) in M with V ⊃ F(U) such
that the composite map ψ ◦ F ◦ φ −1 : Rn ⊃ φ (U) → ψ (V ) ⊂ Rm is C∞ at φ (p). It is
smooth on N if it is smooth at every point of N. A smooth map F : N → M is called
a diffeomorphism if it has a smooth inverse, i.e., a smooth map G : M → N such that
F ◦ G = 1M and G ◦ F = 1N .
A typical matrix in linear algebra is usually an m × n matrix, with m rows and
n columns. Such a matrix represents a linear transformation F : Rn → Rm . For this
reason, we usually write a C∞ map as F : N → M, rather than F : M → N.

A.2 Tangent Vectors

The derivatives of a function f at a point p in Rn depend only on the values of f in a
small neighborhood of p. To make precise what is meant by a “small” neighborhood,
we introduce the concept of the germ of a function. Decree two C∞ functions f : U →
R and g : V → R defined on neighborhoods U and V of p to be equivalent if there is
a neighborhood W of p contained in both U and V such that f agrees with g on W .
The equivalence class of f : U → R is called the germ of f at p.
It is easy to verify that addition, multiplication, and scalar multiplication are
well-defined operations on the set C∞ ∞
p (M) of germs of C real-valued functions at p
∞
in M. These three operations make C p (M) into an algebra over R.
Definition A.3. A point-derivation at a point p of a manifold M is a linear map
D : C∞ ∞
p (M) → R such that for any f , g ∈ C p (M),

D( f g) = (D f )g(p) + f (p)Dg.

A point-derivation at p is also called a tangent vector at p. The set of all tangent

vectors at p is a vector space Tp M, called the tangent space of M at p.

Example A.4. If r1 , . . . , rn are the standard coordinates on Rn and p ∈ Rn , then the

usual partial derivatives  
∂  ∂ 
,..., n 
∂ r1 
p ∂r p

are tangent vectors at p that form a basis for the tangent space Tp (Rn ).

At a point p in a coordinate chart (U, φ ) = (U, x1 , . . . , xn ), where xi = ri ◦ φ is the

ith component of φ , we define the coordinate vectors ∂ /∂ xi | p ∈ Tp M by
 
∂  ∂ 
f = i f ◦ φ −1 for each f ∈ C∞ p (M).
∂ xi  p ∂ r φ (p)
300 §A Manifolds

If F : N → M is a C∞ map, then at each point p ∈ N its differential

F∗,p : Tp N → TF(p) M, (A.1)

is the linear map defined by

(F∗,p X p )(h) = X p (h ◦ F)
∞ (M). Usually the point p is clear from context and we
for X p ∈ Tp N and h ∈ CF(p)
may write F∗ instead of F∗,p . It is easy to verify that if F : N → M and G : M → P
are C∞ maps, then for any p ∈ N,

(G ◦ F)∗,p = G∗,F(p) ◦ F∗,p ,

or, suppressing the points,

(G ◦ F)∗ = G∗ ◦ F∗ .

A.3 Vector Fields

A vector field X on a manifold M is the assignment of a tangent vector X p ∈ Tp M to
each point p ∈ M. At every p in a chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ), since the coordinate vectors
∂ /∂ xi | p form a basis of the tangent space Tp M, the vector X p can be written as a
linear combination

∂ 
X p = ∑ a (p) i  with ai (p) ∈ R.
i
i ∂x p

As p varies over U, the coefficients ai (p) become functions on U. The vector field X
is said to be smooth or C∞ if M has a C∞ atlas such that on each chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn )
of the atlas, the coefficient functions ai in X = ∑ ai ∂ /∂ xi are C∞ . We denote the set
of all C∞ vector fields on M by X(M). It is a vector space under the addition of vector
fields and scalar multiplication by real numbers. As a matter of notation, we write
tangent vectors at p as X p ,Yp , Z p ∈ Tp M, or if the point p is understood from context,
as v1 , v2 , . . . , vk ∈ Tp M. As a shorthand, we sometimes write ∂i for ∂ /∂ xi .
A frame of vector fields on an open set U ⊂ M is a collection of vector fields
X1 , . . . , Xn on U such that at each point p ∈ U, the vectors (X1 ) p , . . . , (Xn ) p form a
basis for the tangent space Tp M. For example, in a coordinate chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ),
the coordinate vector fields ∂ /∂ x1 , . . . , ∂ /∂ xn form a frame of vector fields on U.
A C∞ vector field X on a manifold M gives rise to a linear operator on the vector
space C∞ (M) of C∞ functions on M by the rule

(X f )(p) = X p f for f ∈ C∞ (M) and p ∈ M.

To show that X f is a C∞ function on M, it suffices to write X in terms of local

coordinates x1 , . . . , xn in a neighborhood of p, say X = ∑ ai ∂ /∂ xi . Since X is assumed
C∞ , all the coefficients ai are C∞ . Therefore, if f is C∞ , then X f = ∑ ai ∂ f /∂ xi is
also.
 A.4 Differential Forms 301

The Lie bracket of two vector fields X,Y ∈ X(M) is the vector field [X,Y ] defined
by
[X,Y ] p f = X p (Y f ) − Yp (X f ) for p ∈ M and f ∈ C∞
p (M). (A.2)
So defined, [X,Y ] p is a point-derivation at p (Problem A.3(a)) and therefore [X,Y ]
is indeed a vector field on M. The formula for [X,Y ] in local coordinates (Problem
A.3(b)) shows that if X and Y are C∞ , then so is [X,Y ].
If f : N → M is a C∞ map, its differential f∗,p : Tp N → T f (p) M pushes forward a
tangent vector at a point in N to a tangent vector in M. It should be noted, however,
that in general there is no push-forward map f∗ : X(N) → X(M) for vector fields. For
example, when f is not one-to-one, say f (p) = f (q) for p 6= q in N, it may happen
that for some X ∈ X(N), f∗,p X p 6= f∗,q Xq ; in this case, there is no way to define f∗ X
so that ( f∗ X) f (p) = f∗,p X p for all p ∈ N. Similarly, if f : N → M is not onto, then
there is no natural way to define f∗ X at a point of M not in the image of f . Of course,
if f : N → M is a diffeomorphism, then the pushforward f∗ : X(N) → X(M) is well
defined.

A.4 Differential Forms

For k ≥ 1, a k-form or a form of degree k on M is the assignment to each p in M of
an alternating k-linear function

ω p : Tp M × · · · × Tp M → R.
| {z }
k copies

Here “alternating” means that for every permutation σ of the set {1, 2, . . ., k} and
v1 , . . . , vk ∈ Tp M,

ω p (vσ (1) , . . . , vσ (k) ) = (sgn σ )ω p (v1 , . . . , vk ), (A.3)

where sgn σ , the sign of the permutation σ , is ±1 depending on whether σ is even

or odd. We define a 0-form to be the assignment of a real number to each p ∈ M; in
other words, a 0-form on M is simply a real-valued function on M. When k = 1, the
condition of being alternating is vacuous. Thus, a 1-form on M is the assignment of a
linear function ω p : Tp M → R to each p in M. For k < 0, a k-form is 0 by definition.
An alternating k-linear function on a vector space V is also called a k-covector
on V . As above, a 0-covector is a constant and a 1-covector on V is a linear function
f : V → R. Let Ak (V ) be the vector space of all k-covectors on V . Then A0 (V ) = R
and A1 (V ) = V ∨ := Hom(V, R), the dual vector space of V . In this language a k-form
on M is the assignment of a k-covector ω p ∈ Ak (Tp M) to each point p in M.
Let Sk be the group of all permutations of {1, 2, . . ., k}. A (k, ℓ)-shuffle is a
permutation σ ∈ Sk+ℓ such that

σ (1) < · · · < σ (k) and σ (k + 1) < · · · < σ (k + ℓ).

The wedge product of a k-covector α and an ℓ-covector β on a vector space V is by

definition the (k + ℓ)-linear function
302 §A Manifolds

(α ∧ β )(v1 , . . . , vk+ℓ ) = ∑(sgn σ )α (vσ (1) , . . . , vσ (k) )β (vσ (k+1) , . . . , vσ (k+ℓ) ), (A.4)

where the sum runs over all (k, ℓ)-shuffles. For example, if α and β are 1-covectors,
then
(α ∧ β )(v1 , v2 ) = α (v1 )β (v2 ) − α (v2 )β (v1 ).
The wedge of a 0-covector, i.e., a constant c, with another covector ω is simply
scalar multiplication. In this case, in keeping with the traditional notation for scalar
multiplication, we often replace the wedge by a dot or even by nothing: c ∧ ω =
c · ω = cω .
The wedge product α ∧ β is a (k + ℓ)-covector; moreover, the wedge operation
∧ is bilinear, associative, and anticommutative in its two arguments. Anticommuta-
tivity means that
α ∧ β = (−1)deg α deg β β ∧ α .

Proposition A.5. If α 1 , . . . , α n is a basis for the 1-covectors on a vector space V ,

then a basis for the k-covectors on V is the set

{α i1 ∧ · · · ∧ α ik | 1 ≤ i1 < · · · < ik ≤ n}.

A k-tuple of integers I = (i1 , . . . , ik ) is called a multi-index. If i1 ≤ · · · ≤ ik , we

call I an ascending multi-index, and if i1 < · · · < ik , we call I a strictly ascending
multi-index. To simplify the notation, we will write α I = α i1 ∧ · · · ∧ α ik .
As noted earlier, for a point p in a coordinate chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ), a basis for the
tangent space Tp M is  
∂  ∂ 
,..., n  .
∂ x1  p ∂x p

Let (dx1 ) p , . . . , (dxn ) p be the dual basis for the cotangent space A1 (Tp M) = Tp∗ M,
i.e.,
 !
i ∂ 
(dx ) p = δ ji .
∂ x j p
By Proposition A.5, if ω is a k-form on M, then at each p ∈ U, ω p is a linear combi-
nation:
ω p = ∑ aI (p)(dxI ) p = ∑ aI (p)(dxi1 ) p ∧ · · · ∧ (dxik ) p .
I I

We say that the k-form ω is smooth if M has an atlas {(U, x1 , . . . , xn )} such that on
each U, the coefficients aI : U → R of ω are smooth. By differential k-forms, we
will mean smooth k-forms on a manifold.
A frame of differential k-forms on an open set U ⊂ M is a collection of dif-
ferential k-forms ω1 , . . . , ωr on U such that at each point p ∈ U, the k-covectors
(ω1 ) p , . . . , (ωr ) p form a basis for the vector space Ak (Tp M) of k-covectors on the
tangent space at p. For example, on a coordinate chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ), the k-forms
dxI = dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxik , 1 ≤ i1 < · · · < ik ≤ n, constitute a frame of differential k-forms
on U.
 A.5 Exterior Differentiation on a Manifold 303

A subset B of a left R-module V is called a basis if every element of V can be

written uniquely as a finite linear combination ∑ ri bi , where ri ∈ R and bi ∈ B. An
R-module with a basis is said to be free, and if the basis is finite with n elements, then
the free R-module is said to be of rank n. It can be shown that if a free R-module has
a finite basis, then any two bases have the same number of elements, so that the rank
is well defined. We denote the rank of a free R-module V by rkV .
Let Ωk (M) denote the vector space of C∞ k-forms on M and let
n
M
∗
Ω (M) = Ωk (M).
k=0

If (U, x1 , .
. . , xn ) is a coordinate chart on M, then Ωk (U) is a free module over C∞ (U)
of rank nk , with basis dxI as above.
L
An algebra A is said to be graded if it can be written as a direct sum A = ∞ k=0 Ak
of vector spaces such that under multiplication, Ak · Aℓ ⊂ Ak+ℓ . The wedge product
∧ makes Ω∗ (M) into an anticommutative graded algebra over R.

A.5 Exterior Differentiation on a Manifold

An exterior derivative on a manifold M is a linear operator d : Ω∗ (M) → Ω∗ (M),
satisfying the following three properties:
(1) d is an antiderivation of degree 1, i.e., d increases the degree by 1 and for ω ∈
Ωk (M) and τ ∈ Ωℓ (M),

d(ω ∧ τ ) = d ω ∧ τ + (−1)k ω ∧ d τ ;

(2) d 2 = d ◦ d = 0;
(3) on a 0-form f ∈ C∞ (M),

(d f ) p (X p ) = X p f for p ∈ M and X p ∈ Tp M.

By induction the antiderivation property (1) extends to more than two factors; for
example,

d(ω ∧ τ ∧ η ) = d ω ∧ τ ∧ η + (−1)deg ω ω ∧ d τ ∧ η + (−1)deg ω ∧τ ω ∧ τ ∧ d η .

The existence and uniqueness of an exterior derivative on a general manifold is

established in [21, Section 19]. To develop some facility with this operator, we will
examine the case when M is covered by a single coordinate chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ). This
case can be used to define and compute locally on a manifold.

Proposition A.6. Let (U, x1 , . . . , xn ) be a coordinate chart. Suppose d : Ω∗ (U) →

Ω∗ (U) is an exterior derivative. Then
(i) for any f ∈ Ω0 (U),
∂f i
df =∑ dx ;
∂ xi
304 §A Manifolds

(ii) d(dxI ) = 0;
(iii) for any aI dxI ∈ Ωk (M), d(aI dxI ) = daI ∧ dxI .

Proof. (i) Since (dx1 ) p , . . . , (dxn ) p is a basis of 1-covectors at each point p ∈ U,

there are constants ai (p) such that

(d f ) p = ∑ ai (p) (dxi ) p .

Suppressing p, we may write

d f = ∑ ai dxi .

Applying both sides to the vector field ∂ /∂ xi gives

   
∂ i ∂
df = ∑ ai dx = ∑ ai δ ji = a j .
∂xj i ∂ x j
i

On the other hand, by property (3) of d,

 
∂ ∂
df j
= ( f ).
∂x ∂xj

Hence, a j = ∂ f /∂ x j and d f = ∑(∂ f /∂ x j ) dx j .

(ii) By the antiderivation property of d,

d(dxI ) = d(dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxik ) = ∑(−1) j−1dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ ddxi j ∧ · · · ∧ dxik

j
2
=0 since d = 0.

(iii) By the antiderivation property of d,

d aI dxI = daI ∧ dxI + aI d(dxI )
= daI ∧ dxI since d(dxI ) = 0. ⊔
⊓

Proposition A.6 proves the uniqueness of exterior differentiation on a coordinate

chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ). To prove its existence, we define d by two of the formulas of
Proposition A.6:
(i) if f ∈ Ω0 (U), then d f = ∑(∂ f /∂ xi ) dxi ;
(iii) if ω = ∑ aI dxI ∈ Ωk (U) for k ≥ 1, then d ω = ∑ daI ∧ dxI .
Next we check that so defined, d satisfies the three properties of exterior differ-
entiation.
(1) For ω ∈ Ωk (U) and τ ∈ Ωℓ (U),

d(ω ∧ τ ) = (d ω ) ∧ τ + (−1)k ω ∧ d τ . (A.5)

 A.5 Exterior Differentiation on a Manifold 305

Proof. Suppose ω = ∑ aI dxI and τ = ∑ bJ dxJ . On functions, d( f g) = (d f )g +

f (dg) is simply another manifestation of the ordinary product rule, since
∂
d( f g) = ∑ i
( f g) dxi
∂ x 
∂f ∂g
=∑ g + f i dxi
∂ xi ∂x
 
∂f ∂g
= ∑ i dxi g + f ∑ i dxi
∂x ∂x
= (d f ) g + f dg.

Next suppose k ≥ 1. Since d is linear and ∧ is bilinear over R, we may assume

that ω = aI dxI and τ = bJ dxJ , each consisting of a single term. Then

d(ω ∧ τ ) = d(aI bJ dxI ∧ dxJ )

= d(aI bJ ) ∧ dxI ∧ dxJ (definition of d)
= (daI )bJ ∧ dxI ∧ dxJ + aI dbJ ∧ dxI ∧ dxJ
(by the degree 0 case)
= daI ∧ dxI ∧ bJ dxJ + (−1)k aI dxI ∧ dbJ ∧ dxJ
= d ω ∧ τ + (−1)k ω ∧ d τ . ⊔
⊓

(2) d 2 = 0 on Ωk (U).
Proof. This is a consequence of the fact that the mixed partials of a function are
equal. For f ∈ Ω0 (U),
!
n n n
∂ f ∂2 f
d 2 f = d ∑ i dxi = ∑ ∑ j i dx j ∧ dxi .
i=1 ∂ x j=1 i=1 ∂ x ∂ x

In this double sum, the factors ∂ 2 f /∂ x j ∂ xi are symmetric in i, j, while dx j ∧ dxi are
skew-symmetric in i, j. Hence, for each pair i < j there are two terms

∂2 f ∂2 f
dxi ∧ dx j , dx j ∧ dxi
∂ xi ∂ x j ∂ x j ∂ xi
that add up to zero. It follows that d 2 f = 0.
For ω = ∑ aI dxI ∈ Ωk (U), where k ≥ 1,


d 2 ω = d ∑ daI ∧ dxI (by the definition of d ω )
= ∑(d 2 aI ) ∧ dxI + daI ∧ d(dxI )
= 0.

In this computation, d 2 aI = 0 by the degree 0 case, and d(dxI ) = 0 follows as in the

proof of Proposition A.6(ii) by the antiderivation property and the degree 0 case. ⊓ ⊔
306 §A Manifolds

(3) For f a C∞ function and X a C∞ vector field on (U, x1 , . . . , xn ), (d f )(X) = X f .

Proof. Suppose X = ∑ a j ∂ /∂ x j . Then

  
∂f i j ∂ ∂f
(d f )(X) = ∑ i dx ∑ a j
= ∑ ai i = X f . ⊔
⊓
∂x ∂x ∂x

A.6 Exterior Differentiation on R3

On R3 with coordinates x, y, z, every smooth vector field X is uniquely a linear com-

bination
∂ ∂ ∂
X = a +b +c
∂x ∂y ∂z
with coefficient functions a, b, c ∈ C∞ (R3 ). Thus, the vector space X(R3 ) of smooth
vector fields on R3 is a free module of rank 3 over C∞ (R3 ) with basis {∂ /∂ x, ∂ /∂ y,
∂ /∂ z}. Similarly, Ω3 (R3 ) is a free module of rank 1 over C∞ (R3 ) with basis {dx ∧
dy ∧ dz}, while Ω1 (R3 ) and Ω2 (R3 ) are free modules of rank 3 over C∞ (R3 ) with
bases {dx, dy, dz} and {dy ∧ dz, dz ∧ dx, dx ∧ dy} respectively. So the following
identifications are possible:
functions = 0-forms ←→ 3-forms
f = f ←→ f dx ∧ dy ∧ dz
and
vector fields ↔ 1-forms ↔ 2-forms
X = ha, b, ci ↔ a dx + b dy + c dz ↔ a dy ∧ dz + b dz ∧ dx + c dx ∧ dy.
We will write fx = ∂ f /∂ x, fy = ∂ f /∂ y, and fz = ∂ f /∂ z. On functions,

d f = fx dx + fy dy + fz dz.

On 1-forms,

d(a dx + b dy + c dz) = (cy − bz ) dy ∧ dz − (cx − az ) dz ∧ dx + (bx − ay ) dx ∧ dy.

On 2-forms,

d(a dy ∧ dz + b dz ∧ dx + c dx ∧ dy) = (ax + by + cz ) dx ∧ dy ∧ dz.

Identifying forms with vector fields and functions, we have the following correspon-
dences:

d(0-form) ←→ gradient of a function,

d(1-form) ←→ curl of a vector field,
d(2-form) ←→ divergence of a vector field.
 A.7 Pullback of Differential Forms 307

A.7 Pullback of Differential Forms

Unlike vector fields, which in general cannot be pushed forward under a C∞ map,
differential forms can always be pulled back. Let F : N → M be a C∞ map. The
pullback of a C∞ function f on M is the C∞ function F ∗ f := f ◦ F on N. This
defines the pullback on C∞ 0-forms. For k > 0, the pullback of a k-form ω on M is
the k-form F ∗ ω on N defined by
(F ∗ ω ) p (v1 , . . . , vk ) = ωF(p) (F∗,p v1 , . . . , F∗,p vk )
for p ∈ N and v1 , . . . , vk ∈ Tp M. From this definition, it is not obvious that the pull-
back F ∗ ω of a C∞ form ω is C∞ . To show this, we first derive a few basic properties
of the pullback.
Proposition A.7. Let F : N → M be a C∞ map of manifolds. If ω and τ are k-forms
and σ is an ℓ-form on M, then
(i) F ∗ (ω + τ ) = F ∗ ω + F ∗ τ ;
(ii) for any real number a, F ∗ (aω ) = aF ∗ ω ;
(iii) F ∗ (ω ∧ σ ) = F ∗ ω ∧ F ∗ σ ;
(iv) for any C∞ function h on M, dF ∗ h = F ∗ dh.
Proof. The first three properties (i), (ii), (iii) follow directly from the definitions. To
prove (iv), let p ∈ N and X p ∈ Tp N. Then
(dF ∗ h) p (X p ) = X p (F ∗ h) (property (3) of d)
= X p (h ◦ F) (definition of F ∗ h)

and

(F ∗ dh) p (X p ) = (dh)F(p) (F∗,p X p ) (definition of F ∗ )

= (F∗,p X p )h (property (3) of d)
= X p (h ◦ F). (definition of F∗,p)
Hence,
dF ∗ h = F ∗ dh. ⊔
⊓
We now prove that the pullback of a C∞ form is C∞ . On a coordinate chart
(U, x1 , . . . , xn ) in M, a C∞ k-form ω can be written as a linear combination
ω = ∑ aI dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxik ,
where the coefficients aI are C∞ functions on U. By the preceding proposition,
F ∗ ω = ∑(F ∗ aI ) d(F ∗ xi1 ) ∧ · · · ∧ d(F ∗ xik )
= ∑(aI ◦ F) d(xi1 ◦ F) ∧ · · · ∧ d(xik ◦ F),
which shows that F ∗ ω is C∞ , because it is a sum of products of C∞ functions and C∞
1-forms.
308 §A Manifolds

Proposition A.8. Suppose F : N → M is a smooth map. On C∞ k-forms, dF ∗ = F ∗ d.

Proof. Let ω ∈ Ωk (M) and p ∈ M. Choose a chart (U, x1 , . . . , xn ) about p in M. On

U,
ω = ∑ aI dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxik .
As computed above,

F ∗ ω = ∑(aI ◦ F) d(xi1 ◦ F) ∧ · · · ∧ d(xik ◦ F).

Hence,

dF ∗ ω = ∑ d(aI ◦ F) ∧ d(xi1 ◦ F) ∧ · · · ∧ d(xik ◦ F)

= ∑ d(F ∗ aI ) ∧ d(F ∗ xi1 ) ∧ · · · ∧ d(F ∗ xik )
= ∑ F ∗ daI ∧ F ∗ dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ F ∗ dxik
(dF ∗ = F ∗ d on functions by Prop. A.7(iv))
= ∑ F ∗ (daI ∧ dxi1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxik )
(F ∗ preserves the wedge product by Prop. A.7(iii))
= F ∗dω . ⊔
⊓

In summary, for any C∞ map F : N → M, the pullback map F ∗ : Ω∗ (M) → Ω∗ (N)

is an algebra homomorphism that commutes with the exterior derivative d.
Example A.9 (Pullback under the inclusion map of an immersed submanifold). Let
N and M be manifolds. A C∞ map f : N → M is called an immersion if for all
p ∈ N, the differential f∗,p : Tp N → T f (p) M is injective. A subset S of M with a
manifold structure such that the inclusion map i : S ֒→ M is an immersion is called
an immersed submanifold of M. An example is the image of a line with irrational
slope in the torus R2 /Z2 . An immersed submanifold need not have the subspace
topology.
If ω ∈ Ωk (M), p ∈ S, and v1 , . . . , vk ∈ Tp S, then by the definition of the pullback,

(i∗ ω ) p (v1 , . . . , vk ) = ωi(p) (i∗ v1 , . . . , i∗ vk ) = ω p (v1 , . . . , vk ).

Thus, the pullback of ω under the inclusion map i : S ֒→ M is simply the restriction
of ω to the submanifold S. We also adopt the more suggestive notation ω |S for i∗ ω .

Problems

A.1. Connected components

(a) The connected component of a point p in a topological space S is the largest connected
subset of S containing p. Show that the connected components of a manifold are open.
(b) Let Q be the set of rational numbers considered as a subspace of the real line R. Show
that the connected component of p ∈ Q is the singleton set {p}, which is not open in Q.
Which condition in the definition of a manifold does Q violate?
 A.7 Pullback of Differential Forms 309

A.2. Path-connectedness versus connectedness

A topological space S is said to be locally path-connected at a point p ∈ S if for every neigh-
borhood U of p, there is a path-connected neighborhood V of p such that V ⊂ U. The space S
is locally path-connected if it is locally path-connected at every point p ∈ S. A path compo-
nent of S is a maximal path-connected subset of S.
(a) Prove that in a locally path-connected space S, every path component is open.
(b) Prove that a locally path-connected space is path-connected if and only if it is connected.

A.3. The Lie bracket

Let X and Y be C∞ vector fields on a manifold M, and p a point in M.
(a) Define [X,Y ] p by (A.2). Show that for f , g ∈ C∞
p (M),

[X,Y ] p ( f g) = ([X,Y ] p f )g(p) + f (p)([X,Y ] p g).

Thus, [X,Y ] p is a tangent vector at p.

(b) Suppose X = ∑ ai ∂i and Y = ∑ b j ∂ j in a coordinate neighborhood (U, x1 , . . . , xn ) of p in
M. Prove that
[X,Y ] = ∑(a j ∂ j bi − b j ∂ j ai )∂i .
i, j
Index

action, 247 basic

action of GL(r, F) on polynomials, 312 iff invariant and horizontal, 284
Ad GL(r, R)-invariant, 216 basic form, 283
adjoint representation basis, 303
of a Lie group, 125 for a tensor product, 160
adjoint bundle, 280 for the exterior power, 172
adjoint representation, 125, 252 Betti numbers, 203
of a Lie algebra, 126 bi-invariant metric
affine connection, 45 on a Lie group, 127
algebra, 299 Bianchi identity
graded, 303 first, 207
alternating k-linear function, 301 in vector form, 208
alternating linear map, 168 second, 208, 276
alternating multilinear maps in vector form, 211
universal mapping property, 170 bilinear form, 5
angle bilinear maps
between two vectors, 4 universal mapping property, 157
angle function, 142 bilinear maps over F, 61
anticommutativity, 302 binormal, 17
antiderivation, 303 bundle isomorphism, 53
arc length, 4, 12, 131 bundle map, 53
is independent of parametrization, 131 over a manifold, 53
arc length function, 12
arc length parametrization, 12 Cartan, Élie, 73
ascending multi-index, 302 catenary, 38
associated bundle, 279 catenoid, 39
associativity characteristic classes, 216, 224
of a bi-invariant metric, 127 independence of a connection, 222
of the tensor product, 165 naturality of, 225
atlas, 297 of a principal bundle, 294
vanishing, 227
base space, 246 characteristic form, 216
of a vector bundle, 51 closed, 219
342 Index

chart, 297 on a framed open set, 83

chart about a point, 297 on a principal bundle, 258, 260
charts on a trivial bundle, 74
compatible, 297 on a vector bundle, 74
Chern character, 319 Riemannian, 47
Chern classes symmetric, 102
of a complex vector bundle, 239 connection forms, 82
of a principal GL(r, C)-bundle, 295 connection matrix, 82
Chern–Weil homomorphism, 216, 218, 294 dependence on frames, 206
Christoffel symbols, 101, 102 connection on a vector bundle
for the Poincaré half-plane, 103 existence, 75
of a surface of revolution, 104 connection-preserving diffeomorphism, 101
of the Poincaré disk, 104, 116 preserves geodesics, 110
symmetric iff torsion-free, 102 connections
circle convex linear combination of, 50
volume form, 137 convex linear combination, 75
cobordant, 242 coordinate chart, 297
cocycle condition, 249 coordinate vectors, 299
Codazzi–Mainardi equation, 64 covariant derivative
coefficients corresponding to a connection, 266
of the first fundamental form, 37 covariant derivative
of the second fundamental form, 38 of tensor fields, 210
coefficients of characteristic polynomial, of a basic form, 292
310 of a tensorial form, 286
coefficients of characteristic polynomial of a vector field along a curve, 99
are invariant polynomials, 313 on a principal bundle, 285
coefficients of the characteristic polynomial, on surface in R3 , 106
216, 217 covariant differentiation
compatible charts, 297 along a curve, 97
compatible with the Hermitian metric, 238 covector, 301
complex inner product, 238 curvature, 46
complex invariant polynomials G-equivariance, 275
generated by coefficients of characteristic and shape operator, 34
polynials, 317 Gaussian, 20
complex manifold, 241 Gaussian, in terms of an arbitrary basis,
complex vector bundle, 232 66
component, 33 geodesic curvature, 141
congruent matrices, 234 is F-linear, 46
connected component, 308 is horizontal, 275
connection is independent of orientation, 15
affine, 45 mean, 20
at a point, 79 normal, 20
compatible with the metric, 47, 77 of Maurer–Cartan connection, 278
defined using connection matrices, 213 of a connection on a principal bundle, 274
Euclidean, 45 of a connection on a vector bundle, 76
Levi-Civita, 47 of a plane curve, 14, 16
metric of a space curve, 17
in terms of forms, 84 of an ellipse, 16
on a complex vector bundle, 238 of directional derivative, 26
 Index 343

principal, 20 of vector bundles, 185

sectional, 94 directional derivative
signed geodesic curvature, 143 computation using a curve, 24
symmetries, 209 in Rn , 24
total curvature, 149 has zero curvature, 27
total geodesic curvature, 144 is compatible with the metric, 27
curvature tensor, 211 is torsion-free, 27
independence of orthonormal basis, 94 of a vector field, 24
curvature forms, 82 of a vector-valued form, 194
curvature matrix, 82 on a submanifold of Rn , 29
dependence on frames, 206 properties, 25
is skew-symmetric relative to an distance
orthonormal frame, 86 on a connected Riemannian manifold, 132
curvature tensor, 76 distribution, 258
skew-symmetry, 93 horizontal, 255, 258
curve, 11 dot product, 4
geometric, 11 dual
parametrized, 11 of a module, 161
piecewise smooth, 114 dual 1-forms
regular, 11 under a change of frame, 135
cuspidal cubic dual 1-forms, 86
arc length, 17
cylinder Ehresmann connection, 246, 260
mean and Gaussian curvature, 42 Einstein summation convention, 82
shape operator, 42 elementary symmetric polynomials, 315
ellipse
decomposable curvature, 16
in the exterior algebra, 168 equivariant map, 247
in the tensor product, 157 Euclid’s fifth postulate, 112
degree, 150 Euclid’s parallel postulate, 112
of a form, 192 Euclidean connection, 45
of a line bundle, 244 Euclidean inner product, 4
diagonal entries Euclidean metric, 7
of a skew-symmetric matrix is 0, 228 Euler characteristic
diagonalizable matrices independent of decomposition, 149
are dense in gl(r, C), 316 of a compact orientable odd-dimensional
diffeomorphism, 299 manifold is 0, 204
differential, 300 of a polygonal decomposition of a surface,
differential form, 301, 302 148
vector-valued, 191 Euler class, 237
differential forms existence of a geodesic, 109
depending smoothly on a real parameter, existence of a connection, 75
220 existence of a Hermitian metric, 238
with values in a vector bundle, 198 existence of geodesics, 108
with values in a vector space, 190 exponential map
differentiating under an integral sign), 222 of a connection, 117
dimension exponential map
of tensor product, 161 as a natural transformation, 129
direct sum differential, 119
344 Index

for a Lie group, 122, 124 fundamental theorem on symmetric

naturality, 118 polynomials, 316
extension of algebraic identities, 311 fundamental vector field, 251
exterior derivative, 303 integral curve, 253
exterior differentiation right-equivariance, 252
on R3 , 306 vanishing at a point, 253
exterior algebra, 168 Fundamental vector fields
exterior derivative Lie bracket of, 256
of a vector-valued 1-form, 202
of a vector-valued form, 194 G-manifold, 247
properties, 304 Gauss curvature equation
exterior power, 168 in terms of forms, 91
basis, 172 Gauss curvature equation, 64
Gauss map, 41, 42, 150
Gauss’s Theorema Egregium, 21, 65
F-bilinearity, 61
Gauss–Bonnet formula
F-linear map
for a polygon, 146
of sections correspond to a bundle map,
Gauss–Bonnet theorem, 22
60
for a surface, 148
fiber, 246
generalized, 237
of a vector bundle, 51
Gaussian curvature, 20, 69
fiber bundle, 246
and Gauss map, 150
first fundamental form
in terms of an arbitrary basis, 66
coefficients, 37
is the determinant of the shape operator,
first Bianchi identity, 207 36
vector form, 208 of a cylinder, 42
first fundamental form, 37 of a Riemannian 2-manifold, 93
first fundamental form, 70 of a sphere, 42
first structural equation, 87 of a surface, 92
flat section, 74 of a surface of revolution, 43
form of the Poincaré disk, 116
smooth, 192, 302 Poincaré half-plane, 95
forms with values in a Lie algebra, 195 positive, 149
frame, 58, 178 generalized Gauss–Bonnet theorem, 237
k-forms, 302 generalized second Bianchi identity, 208
of vector fields, 300 on a frame bundle, 278
positively oriented, 233 genus
frame bundle, 251 of a compact orientable surface, 149
of a vector bundle, 251 geodesic, 97, 105
frame manifold existence of, 108
of a vector space, 250 existence of, 109
framed open set, 83 in the Poincaré half-plane, 110
free action, 247 maximal, 105
free module, 303 minimal, 133
rank, 303 on a sphere, 106
Frenet–Serret formulas, 17 reparametrization, 107
Frenet–Serret frame, 17 speed is constant, 105
functoriality geodesic equations, 109
of tensor product, 164 geodesic curvature, 141
 Index 345

signed geodesic curvature, 143 horizontal vector, 266

total geodesic curvature, 144 Horizontal vector fields
geodesic equations, 108 Lie bracket of, 278
of the Poincaré disk, 116 hyperbolic plane, 116, 147
geodesic polygon, 147 hyperbolic triangle, 147
geodesic triangle hypersurface, 31, 68
sum of angles, 147 normal vector field, 31
geodesically complete, 133 volume form, 140
geodesics
on a sphere, 109 immersed submanifold, 308
geometric curve, 11 immersion, 308
germ induced connection
of a function at a point, 299 on a pullback bundle, 214
germ of neighborhoods, 129 inner product, 5
graded algebra, 303 Euclidean, 4
gradient vector field, 140 representation by a symmetric matrix, 5
Gram–Schmidt process, 83 restriction to a subspace, 5
graph inner products
curvature, 16 nonnegative linear combination, 5
integral curve
helicoid, 39 of a fundamental vector field, 253
Hermitian bundle, 238 integral form, 230
Hermitian inner product, 238 interior angle, 145
Hermitian metric, 238 interior angles
existence of, 238 of a polygon, 150
Hermitian symmetric, 238 invariant, 216
Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem, 244 invariant complex polynomials, 314
holomorphic tangent bundle, 241 invariant form, 284
holomorphic vector bundle, 243 invariant polynomial, 216, 310, 312
holonomy, 115 generators, 219
homogeneous elements, 167 isometric invariant, 65
homogeneous form, 192 isometry, 3, 7
homogeneous manifold, 248 isomorphic vector bundles, 53
Hopf bundle, 248
Hopf Umlaufsatz, 145 jump angle, 145
Hopf–Rinow theorem, 134
horizontal component L-polynomials, 318
of a form, 285 left action, 247
of a tangent vector, 260 left G-equivariant map, 247
horizontal distribution, 255, 258 left-invariant metric, 126
of an Ehresmann connection, 261 left-invariant vector field, 121
horizontal form, 281 Leibniz rule, 45
horizontal lift, 266, 267 length, 6
of a vector field, 263, 270 of a vector, 4
horizontal lift formula, 270 length of a vector, 131
horizontal lift of a vector field Levi-Civita connection, 47
to a frame bundle, 270 Lie bracket
to a principal bundle, 263 of a vertical and a horizontal vector field,
horizontal tangent vector, 268 264
346 Index

Lie bracket, 301, 309 natural transformation, 129

of fundamental vector fields, 256 naturality
of horizontal vector fields, 278 of the exponential map, 118
of vector fields, 30 of characteristic classes, 225
Lie derivative of the exponential map for a Lie group,
comparison with the directional derivative 124
in Rn , 27 naturality property, 225
Lie group Newton’s identities, 321
exponential map, 124 Newton’s identity, 219
lift, 267 non-Euclidean geometry, 112
horizontal, 267 nondegenerate pairing, 173
line bundle, 51, 239 normal coordinates, 120
trivial, 239 normal curvature
local operator, 55, 78 average value of, 43
restriction, 57 of a normal section, 20
local trivialization, 246 normal neighborhood, 120
locally Euclidean, 297 normal section, 20
locally finite, 8 normal vector, 19
locally path-connected, 309 normal vector field, 19
locally trivial, 246 along a hypersurface, 31
smooth, 19
Maurer–Cartan connection, 264
curvature of, 278 orbit, 247
Maurer–Cartan equation, 202 orientable vector bundle, 233
Maurer–Cartan form, 202 orientation
right translate, 202 and curvature, 15
maximal atlas, 297 on a vector bundle, 233
maximal geodesic, 105 on a vector space, 232
mean curvature, 20, 43, 69 orientation-preserving reparametrization,
of a cylinder, 42 131
of a sphere, 42 orientation-reversing reparametrization, 131
of a surface of revolution, 43 oriented vector bundle, 233
metric orthogonal projection, 83
on the Poincaré half-plane, 95 on a surface in R3 , 48
metric connection, 77, 238
existence of, 78 pairing
relative to an orthonormal frame is nondegenerate, 173
skew-symmetric, 85 of two modules, 173
metric space, 132 parallel translation
metric-preserving map, 7 existence of, 113
minimal geodesic, 133 parallel along a curve, 267
Möbius strip, 52 parallel frame
module along a curve, 267
free, 303 parallel postulate, 112
morphism parallel translate, 113
of principal bundles, 248 parallel translation, 113, 267
multi-index, 302 on a sphere, 115
ascending, 302 preserves length and inner product, 114
strictly ascending, 302 parallel transport, 113, 267
 Index 347

parallel vector field, 112 principal direction, 20

parametrization is an eigenvector of the shape operator, 35
by arc length, 12 principle of extension of algebraic identities,
parametrized curve, 11 311
partition of unity, 8 product bundle, 52, 248
path component, 309 product of vector-valued forms, 192
permutation matrix, 315 projection
Pfaffian, 235 orthogonal, 83
piecewise smooth curve, 114 pseudo-tensorial form
Poincaré disk with respect to a representation, 281
connection and curvature forms, 88 pullback
Poincaré half-plane of a vector bundle, 181
Gaussian curvature, 95 of a differential form, 307
metric, 95 of a function, 307
Poincare pullback of vector-valued forms, 197
Poincaré disk pullback bundle, 181
Christoffel symbols, 104 induced connection, 214
Poincaré disk examples, 184
Gaussian curvature, 96 pushforward
Poincaré half-plane, 147 of of a vector field, 100
Poincaré half plane
Gaussian curvature, 94 quotient bundle, 181
Poincaré half-plane
geodesics, 110 rank, 303
point operator, 55 rank of a vector bundle, 51
point-derivation, 299 real invariant polynomials, 319
polygon generated by the coefficients of
geodesic polygon, 147 characteristic polynomial, 321
on a surface, 145 generation, 322
polynomial, 216, 310 regular curve, 11
Ad(G)-invariant, 291 regular point, 31
on gl(r, F), 312 regular submanifold, 7, 19
on a vector space, 291 regular value, 31
polynomial function, 310 reparametrization, 11, 131
polynomial on so(r), 234 orientation-preserving, 131
polynomials orientation-reversing, 131
versus polynomial functions, 310 reparametrization of a geodesic, 107
Pontrjagin class, 229 restriction
Pontrjagin number, 230, 241 of a connection to an open subset, 78
positive orientation of a form to a submanifold, 308
on a polygon, 145 of a local operator, 57
positive-definite, 238 of a vector bundle to an open set, 182
positive-definite bilinear form, 5 of a vector bundle, 52
positive-definite symmetric matrix, 6 retraction, 256
positively oriented frame, 233 Ricci curvature, 212
principal curvature Riemann curvature tensor, 211
is an eigenvalue of the shape operator, 35 Riemannian bundle, 76
principal bundle, 247 Riemannian connection, 47
principal curvature, 20, 69 existence and uniqueness, 47
348 Index

in terms of differential forms, 87 skew-symmetric matrix

on a surface in R3 , 49 diagonal 0, 228
Riemannian manifold, 6 smooth dependence
is a metric space, 132 of a form on t, 220
Riemannian metric, 6 smooth form, 192, 302
existence, 8 smooth function, 297, 298
on a manifold with boundary, 136 smooth manifold, 298
on a vector bundle, 76 smooth map, 299
right action, 247 smooth vector field, 300
right G-equivariant map, 247 smoothly varying
right-equivariant form family of
forms, 220
with respect to a representation, 281 Ad SO(r) -invariant polynomial, 233
rotation angle theorem, 146 speed, 12, 105
rotation index theorem, 146 sphere
geodesics, 109
scalar curvature, 213 geodesics on, 106
second Bianchi identity mean and Gaussian curvature, 42
in vector form, 211 shape operator, 42
second Bianchi identity, 208, 276 volume form in Cartesian coordinates,
generalized, 208 138
generalized, on a frame bundle, 278 spherical coordinates, 139
second fundamental form, 37, 70 splitting, 255, 256
coefficients, 38 stabilizer, 247
second structural equation, 87 straight, 97
section strictly ascending multi-index, 302
of a vector bundle, 53 structural equation
sectional curvature, 94 first, 87
sections second, 82, 87
of a vector bundle along a curve, 266 subbundle, 178
sesquilinear, 238 subbundle criterion, 179
shape operator, 32, 68 submanifold
and curvature, 34 immersed, 308
is self-adjoint, 33 regular, 7
matrix is symmetric, 34 summation convention
of a cylinder, 42 Einstein, 82
of a sphere, 42 support
of a surface of revolution, 43 of a function, 8
short exact sequence surface
rank condition, 256 in R3 , 7
splitting, 256 surface in R3
shuffle, 176, 301 covariant derivative, 106
sign convention, 201 Gaussian curvature, 92
signature, 243 surface of revolution
signed curvature, 14 Christoffel symbols, 104
signed geodesic curvature, 143 mean and Gaussian curvature, 43
signs concerning vector-valued forms, 201 shape operator, 43
singular value, 31 symmetric bilinear form, 5
skew-symmetric matrices symmetric connection, 102
powers, 228 symmetric polynomials
 Index 349

fundamental theorem, 316 derivative of, 219

generation, 322 of a bilinear form, 213
symmetric power, 177 trace polynomial, 217, 219, 310, 314
symmetries transition functions, 249
of curvature, 209 transitive action on a fiber, 248
transposition matrix, 315
tangent bundle, 53 triangle
tangent space, 299 sum of angles, 147
tangent vector, 299 trivial line bundle, 239
tensor, 93 trivialization, 51, 74
tensor product trivializing open cover, 52
basis, 160 trivializing open set, 51
tensor algebra, 166, 167
tensor criterior, 200 Umlaufsatz, 150
tensor field unit-speed polygon, 145
covariant derivative of, 210 universal mapping property
tensor field on a manifold, 199 for bilinear maps, 158
tensor product, 156 universal mapping property
associativity, 165 for alternating k-linear maps, 170
basis, 160 for bilinear maps, 157
characterization, 158 of the tensor product, 157
dimension, 161
functorial properties, 164 vanishing
identities, 162 of characteristic classes, 227
of finite cyclic groups, 163, 167 vector bundle
of three vector spaces, 165 associated to a representation, 279
tensorial form vector bundle, 51
of type ρ , 281 base space, 51
Theorema Egregium, 21, 65 holomorphic, 243
using forms, 92 isomorphism, 53
third fundamental form, 70 total space, 51
topological manifold, 297 vector field, 300
torsion, 46 along a curve, 27
is F-linear, 46 along a submanifold, 28
of directional derivative, 26 left-invariant, 121
torsion forms, 86 on a submanifold, 28
torsion-free, 47 parallel, 112
in terms of Christoffel symbols, 102 vector subbundle, 178
torsion-free connection, 102 vector-valued forms
torus product, 192
as a Riemannian manifold, 7 vector-valued k-covector, 190
total curvature, 42, 149 vector-valued differential forms, 190
is a topological invariant, 149 vector-valued form, 190, 191
of a plane curve, 150 directional derivative, 194
total geodesic curvature, 144 pullback, 197
total Pontrjagin class, 230 velocity vector field, 27
total space, 246 vertical component, 258
of a vector bundle, 51 of a tangent vector, 260
trace vertical subbundle, 255
350 Index

vertical tangent space, 254 on R2 , 136

vertical tangent vector, 254
volume form
of a smooth hypersurface, 140
of a sphere, 138
of a sphere in spherical coordinates, 139
of an oriented Riemannian manifold, 136
on a circle, 137
on H2 , 136
on the boundary, 136
wedge product, 168, 301
is anticommutative, 169
properties, 168
under a change of frame, 135
wedge product formula, 176
Weingarten map, 32
Whitney product formula, 230

Photo by Bachrach
with Raoul Bott of Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology and the author of An
Introduction to Manifolds.
Loring W. Tu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and grew
up in Taiwan, Canada, and the United States. He at-
tended McGill University and Princeton University as
an undergraduate, and obtained his Ph.D. from Har-
vard University under the supervision of Phillip A.
Griffiths. He has taught at the University of Michi-
gan, Ann Arbor, and at Johns Hopkins University, and
is currently Professor of Mathematics at Tufts Uni-
versity in Massachusetts.
An algebraic geometer by training, he has done re-
search at the interface of algebraic geometry, topol-
ogy, and differential geometry, including Hodge the-
ory, degeneracy loci, moduli spaces of vector bun-
dles, and equivariant cohomology. He is the coauthor