kb/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exterior_calculus_identities-2.md

14 KiB
Raw Blame History

title chunk source category tags date_saved instance
Exterior calculus identities 3/7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exterior_calculus_identities reference science, encyclopedia 2026-05-05T08:14:13.652508+00:00 kb-cron

A one-form

    α
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        1
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \alpha \in \Omega ^{1}(M)}

corresponds to the unique vector field

      α
      
        ♯
      
    
    ∈
    Γ
    (
    T
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \alpha ^{\sharp }\in \Gamma (TM)}

such that for all

    X
    ∈
    Γ
    (
    T
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle X\in \Gamma (TM)}

, we have:

    α
    (
    X
    )
    =
    g
    (
    
      α
      
        ♯
      
    
    ,
    X
    )
    .
  

{\displaystyle \alpha (X)=g(\alpha ^{\sharp },X).}

These mappings extend via multilinearity to mappings from

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-vector fields to

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-forms and

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-forms to

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-vector fields through

    (
    
      A
      
        1
      
    
    ∧
    
      A
      
        2
      
    
    ∧
    ⋯
    ∧
    
      A
      
        k
      
    
    
      )
      
        ♭
      
    
    =
    
      A
      
        1
      
      
        ♭
      
    
    ∧
    
      A
      
        2
      
      
        ♭
      
    
    ∧
    ⋯
    ∧
    
      A
      
        k
      
      
        ♭
      
    
  

{\displaystyle (A_{1}\wedge A_{2}\wedge \cdots \wedge A_{k})^{\flat }=A_{1}^{\flat }\wedge A_{2}^{\flat }\wedge \cdots \wedge A_{k}^{\flat }}




  
    (
    
      α
      
        1
      
    
    ∧
    
      α
      
        2
      
    
    ∧
    ⋯
    ∧
    
      α
      
        k
      
    
    
      )
      
        ♯
      
    
    =
    
      α
      
        1
      
      
        ♯
      
    
    ∧
    
      α
      
        2
      
      
        ♯
      
    
    ∧
    ⋯
    ∧
    
      α
      
        k
      
      
        ♯
      
    
    .
  

{\displaystyle (\alpha _{1}\wedge \alpha _{2}\wedge \cdots \wedge \alpha _{k})^{\sharp }=\alpha _{1}^{\sharp }\wedge \alpha _{2}^{\sharp }\wedge \cdots \wedge \alpha _{k}^{\sharp }.}

=== Hodge star === For an n-manifold M, the Hodge star operator

      ⋆
    
    :
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
    →
    
      Ω
      
        n
        
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle {\star }:\Omega ^{k}(M)\rightarrow \Omega ^{n-k}(M)}

is a duality mapping taking a

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-form

    α
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \alpha \in \Omega ^{k}(M)}

to an

    (
    n
    
      
    
    k
    )
  

{\displaystyle (n{-}k)}

-form

    (
    
      ⋆
    
    α
    )
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        n
        
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle ({\star }\alpha )\in \Omega ^{n-k}(M)}

. It can be defined in terms of an oriented frame

    (
    
      X
      
        1
      
    
    ,
    …
    ,
    
      X
      
        n
      
    
    )
  

{\displaystyle (X_{1},\ldots ,X_{n})}

for

    T
    M
  

{\displaystyle TM}

, orthonormal with respect to the given metric tensor

    g
  

{\displaystyle g}

:

    (
    
      ⋆
    
    α
    )
    (
    
      X
      
        1
      
    
    ,
    …
    ,
    
      X
      
        n
        
        k
      
    
    )
    =
    α
    (
    
      X
      
        n
        
        k
        +
        1
      
    
    ,
    …
    ,
    
      X
      
        n
      
    
    )
    .
  

{\displaystyle ({\star }\alpha )(X_{1},\ldots ,X_{n-k})=\alpha (X_{n-k+1},\ldots ,X_{n}).}

=== Co-differential operator === The co-differential operator

    δ
    :
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
    →
    
      Ω
      
        k
        
        1
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \delta :\Omega ^{k}(M)\rightarrow \Omega ^{k-1}(M)}

on an

    n
  

{\displaystyle n}

dimensional manifold

    M
  

{\displaystyle M}

is defined by

    δ
    :=
    (
    
    1
    
      )
      
        k
      
    
    
      
        ⋆
      
      
        
        1
      
    
    d
    
      ⋆
    
    =
    (
    
    1
    
      )
      
        n
        k
        +
        n
        +
        1
      
    
    
      ⋆
    
    d
    
      ⋆
    
    .
  

{\displaystyle \delta :=(-1)^{k}{\star }^{-1}d{\star }=(-1)^{nk+n+1}{\star }d{\star }.}

The HodgeDirac operator,

    d
    +
    δ
  

{\displaystyle d+\delta }

, is a Dirac operator studied in Clifford analysis.

=== Oriented manifold === An

    n
  

{\displaystyle n}

-dimensional orientable manifold M is a manifold that can be equipped with a choice of an n-form

    μ
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        n
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \mu \in \Omega ^{n}(M)}

that is continuous and nonzero everywhere on M.

=== Volume form === On an orientable manifold

    M
  

{\displaystyle M}

the canonical choice of a volume form given a metric tensor

    g
  

{\displaystyle g}

and an orientation is

      d
      e
      t
    
    :=
    
      
        
          |
        
        det
        g
        
          |
        
      
    
    
    d
    
      X
      
        1
      
      
        ♭
      
    
    ∧
    …
    ∧
    d
    
      X
      
        n
      
      
        ♭
      
    
  

{\displaystyle \mathbf {det} :={\sqrt {|\det g|}}\;dX_{1}^{\flat }\wedge \ldots \wedge dX_{n}^{\flat }}

for any basis

    d
    
      X
      
        1
      
    
    ,
    …
    ,
    d
    
      X
      
        n
      
    
  

{\displaystyle dX_{1},\ldots ,dX_{n}}

ordered to match the orientation.

=== Area form === Given a volume form

      d
      e
      t
    
  

{\displaystyle \mathbf {det} }

and a unit normal vector

    N
  

{\displaystyle N}

we can also define an area form

    σ
    :=
    
      ι
      
        N
      
    
    
      
        det
      
    
  

{\displaystyle \sigma :=\iota _{N}{\textbf {det}}}

on the boundary

    ∂
    M
    .
  

{\displaystyle \partial M.}

=== Bilinear form on k-forms === A generalization of the metric tensor, the symmetric bilinear form between two

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-forms

    α
    ,
    β
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \alpha ,\beta \in \Omega ^{k}(M)}

, is defined pointwise on

    M
  

{\displaystyle M}

by

α
    ,
    β
    ⟩
    
      
        |
      
      
        p
      
    
    :=
    
      ⋆
    
    (
    α
    ∧
    
      ⋆
    
    β
    )
    
      
        |
      
      
        p
      
    
    .
  

{\displaystyle \langle \alpha ,\beta \rangle |_{p}:={\star }(\alpha \wedge {\star }\beta )|_{p}.}

The

      L
      
        2
      
    
  

{\displaystyle L^{2}}

-bilinear form for the space of

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-forms

      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \Omega ^{k}(M)}

is defined by

    ⟨
    
    ⟨
    α
    ,
    β
    ⟩
    
    ⟩
    :=
    
      ∫
      
        M
      
    
    α
    ∧
    
      ⋆
    
    β
    .
  

{\displaystyle \langle \!\langle \alpha ,\beta \rangle \!\rangle :=\int _{M}\alpha \wedge {\star }\beta .}

In the case of a Riemannian manifold, each is an inner product (i.e. is positive-definite).

=== Lie derivative === We define the Lie derivative

        L
      
    
    :
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
    →
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle {\mathcal {L}}:\Omega ^{k}(M)\rightarrow \Omega ^{k}(M)}

through Cartan's magic formula for a given section

    X
    ∈
    Γ
    (
    T
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle X\in \Gamma (TM)}

as

          L
        
      
      
        X
      
    
    =
    d
    ∘
    
      ι
      
        X
      
    
    +
    
      ι
      
        X
      
    
    ∘
    d
    .
  

{\displaystyle {\mathcal {L}}_{X}=d\circ \iota _{X}+\iota _{X}\circ d.}

It describes the change of a

    k
  

{\displaystyle k}

-form along a flow

      ϕ
      
        t
      
    
  

{\displaystyle \phi _{t}}

associated to the section

    X
  

{\displaystyle X}

.

=== LaplaceBeltrami operator === The Laplacian

    Δ
    :
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
    →
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \Delta :\Omega ^{k}(M)\rightarrow \Omega ^{k}(M)}

is defined as

    Δ
    =
    
    (
    d
    δ
    +
    δ
    d
    )
  

{\displaystyle \Delta =-(d\delta +\delta d)}

.

== Important definitions ==

=== Definitions on Ωk(M) ===

    α
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        k
      
    
    (
    M
    )
  

{\displaystyle \alpha \in \Omega ^{k}(M)}

is called...

closed if

    d
    α
    =
    0
  

{\displaystyle d\alpha =0}

exact if

    α
    =
    d
    β
  

{\displaystyle \alpha =d\beta }

for some

    β
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        k
        
        1
      
    
  

{\displaystyle \beta \in \Omega ^{k-1}}

coclosed if

    δ
    α
    =
    0
  

{\displaystyle \delta \alpha =0}

coexact if

    α
    =
    δ
    β
  

{\displaystyle \alpha =\delta \beta }

for some

    β
    ∈
    
      Ω
      
        k
        +
        1
      
    
  

{\displaystyle \beta \in \Omega ^{k+1}}

harmonic if closed and coclosed