Exterior covariant derivative

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mathematics, the exterior covariant derivative, sometimes also covariant exterior
derivative, is a very useful notion for calculus on manifolds, which makes it possible to
simplify formulas which use a principal connection.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Definition
 2 Properties
 3 See also
 4 References

Definition[edit]
Let P → M be a principal G-bundle on a smooth manifold M. If ϕ is a tensorial k-
form on P, then its exterior covariant derivative is defined by

where h denotes the projection to the horizontal subspace, Hx defined by the

connection, with kernel Vx (the vertical subspace) of the tangent bundle of the total
space of the fiber bundle. Here Xi are any vector fields on P. Dϕ is a tensorial (k + 1)-
form on P.

Properties[edit]
Unlike the usual exterior derivative, which squares to 0 (that is d2 = 0), we have

where Ω denotes the curvature form. In particular D2 vanishes for a flat

connection.

Connection form
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mathematics, and specifically differential geometry, a connection form is a manner of

organizing the data of a connection using the language of moving frames and differential
forms.
Historically, connection forms were introduced by Élie Cartan in the first half of the 20th
century as part of, and one of the principal motivations for, his method of moving frames.
The connection form generally depends on a choice of frame, and so is not
a tensorial object. Various generalizations and reinterpretations of the connection form
were formulated subsequent to Cartan's initial work. In particular, on a principal bundle,
a principal connection is a natural reinterpretation of the connection form as a tensorial
object. On the other hand, the connection form has the advantage that it is a differential
form defined on the differentiable manifold, rather than on an abstract principal bundle
over it. Hence, despite their lack of tensoriality, connection forms continue to be used
because of the relative ease of performing calculations with them.Griffiths & Harris
(1978) Wells (1980) Spivak (1999) In physics, connection forms are also used broadly in
the context of gauge theory, through the gauge covariant derivative.
 A connection form associates to each basis of a vector bundle a matrix of differential
forms. The connection form is not tensorial because under a change of basis, the
connection form transforms in a manner that involves the exterior derivative of
the transition functions, in much the same way as the Christoffel symbols for the Levi-
Civita connection. The main tensorial invariant of a connection form is its curvature form.
In the presence of a solder form identifying the vector bundle with the tangent bundle,
there is an additional invariant: the torsion form. In many cases, connection forms are
considered on vector bundles with additional structure: that of a fiber bundle with
a structure group.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Vector bundles
o 1.1 Preliminaries
 1.1.1 Frames on a vector bundle
 1.1.2 Exterior connections
o 1.2 Connection forms
 1.2.1 Change of frame
 1.2.2 Global connection forms
o 1.3 Curvature
o 1.4 Soldering and torsion
o 1.5 Example: The Levi-Civita connection
 1.5.1 Curvature
 1.5.2 Torsion
 2 Structure groups
o 2.1 Compatible connections
o 2.2 Change of frame
 3 Principal bundles
o 3.1 The principal connection for a connection form
o 3.2 Connection forms associated to a principal connection
 4 See also
 5 Notes
 6 References

Vector bundles[edit]
Preliminaries[edit]
Frames on a vector bundle[edit]
Let E be a vector bundle of fibre dimension k over a differentiable manifold M. A local
frame for E is an ordered basis of local sections of E.
Let e=(eα)α=1,2,...,k be a local frame on E. This frame can be used to express locally any
section of E. For suppose that ξ is a local section, defined over the same open set as the
frame e, then

where ξα(e) denotes the components of ξ in the frame e. As a matrix equation, this
reads
 Exterior connections[edit]
See also: Exterior covariant derivative

A connection in E is a type of differential operator

where Γ denotes the sheaf of local sections of a vector bundle, and Ω1M is
the bundle of differential 1-forms on M. For D to be a connection, it must be
correctly coupled to theexterior derivative. Specifically, if v is a local section
of E, and f is a smooth function, then

where df is the exterior derivative of f.

Sometimes it is convenient to extend the definition of D to arbitrary E-
valued forms, thus regarding it as a differential operator on the tensor
product of E with the full exterior algebra of differential forms. Given an
exterior connection D satisfying this compatibility property, there exists a
unique extension of D:

such that

where v is homogeneous of degree deg v. In other words, D is

a derivation on the sheaf of graded modules Γ(E ⊗ Ω*M).

Connection forms[edit]
The connection form arises when applying the exterior connection to a particular
frame e. Upon applying the exterior connection to the eα, it is the unique k × k matrix (ωαβ)
ofone-forms on M such that

In terms of the connection form, the exterior connection of any section of E can now
be expressed, for suppose that ξ = Σα eαξα. Then

Taking components on both sides,

 where it is understood that d and ω refer to the exterior derivative and a
matrix of 1-forms, respectively, acting on the components of ξ. Conversely, a
matrix of 1-forms ω is a priorisufficient to completely determine the
connection locally on the open set over which the basis of sections e is
defined.

Change of frame[edit]

In order to extend ω to a suitable global object, it is necessary to examine

how it behaves when a different choice of basic sections of E is chosen.
Write ωαβ = ωαβ(e) to indicate the dependence on the choice of e.

Suppose that e′ is a different choice of local basis. Then there is an

invertible k × k matrix of functions g such that

Applying the exterior connection to both sides gives the transformation

law for ω:

Note in particular that ω fails to transform in a tensorial manner,

since the rule for passing from one frame to another involves the
derivatives of the transition matrix g.

Global connection forms[edit]

If {Up} is an open covering of M, and each Up is equipped with a

trivialization ep of E, then it is possible to define a global connection
form in terms of the patching data between the local connection
forms on the overlap regions. In detail, a connection form on M is a
system of matrices ω(ep) of 1-forms defined on each Up that satisfy
the following compatibility condition

This compatibility condition ensures in particular that the exterior

connection of a section of E, when regarded abstractly as a
section of E ⊗ Ω1M, does not depend on the choice of basis
section used to define the connection.

Curvature[edit]
The curvature two-form of a connection form in E is defined by
Unlike the connection form, the curvature behaves tensorially under a change of
frame, which can be checked directly by using the Poincaré lemma. Specifically,
if e → e g is a change of frame, then the curvature two-form transforms by

One interpretation of this transformation law is as follows. Let e* be the dual

basis corresponding to the frame e. Then the 2-form

is independent of the choice of frame. In particular, Ω is a vector-valued two-

form on M with values in the endomorphism ring Hom(E,E). Symbolically,

In terms of the exterior connection D, the curvature endomorphism is

given by

for v ∈ E. Thus the curvature measures the failure of the sequence

to be a chain complex (in the sense of de Rham cohomology).

Soldering and torsion[edit]

Suppose that the fibre dimension k of E is equal to the
dimension of the manifold M. In this case, the vector bundle E is
sometimes equipped with an additional piece of data besides its
connection: a solder form. A solder form is a globally
defined vector-valued one-form θ ∈ Γ(Ω1(M,E)) such that the
mapping

is a linear isomorphism for all x ∈ M. If a solder form is

given, then it is possible to define the torsion of the
connection (in terms of the exterior connection) as

The torsion Θ is an E-valued 2-form on M.

A solder form and the associated torsion may both be

described in terms of a local frame e of E. If θ is a
solder form, then it decomposes into the frame
components
 The components of the torsion are then

Much like the curvature, it can be shown that Θ

behaves as a contravariant tensor under a
change in frame:

The frame-independent torsion may also be

recovered from the frame components:

Example: The Levi-Civita connection[edit]

As an example, suppose that M carries a Riemannian metric, and consider the Levi-
Civita connection on the tangent bundle of M.[1] A local frame on the tangent bundle is an
ordered list of vector fields e = (ei | i = 1,2,...,n=dim M) defined on an open subset
of M that are linearly independent at every point of their domain. The Christoffel symbols
define the Levi-Civita connection by

If θ = (θi | i=1,2,...,n), denotes the dual basis of the cotangent bundle, such that θi(ej)
= δij (the Kronecker delta), then the connection form is

In terms of the connection form, the exterior connection on a vector field v =

Σieivi is given by

One can recover the Levi-Civita connection, in the usual sense, from this by
contracting with ei:
 Curvature[edit]

The curvature 2-form of the Levi-Civita connection is the matrix (Ωij)

given by

For simplicity, suppose that the frame e is holonomic, so that

dθi=0.[2] Then, employing now the summation convention on
repeated indices,

where R is the Riemann curvature tensor.

Torsion[edit]

The Levi-Civita connection is characterized as the unique metric connection in the

tangent bundle with zero torsion. To describe the torsion, note that the vector bundle E is
the tangent bundle. This carries a canonical solder form (sometimes called the canonical
one-form) that is the section θ of Hom(TM,TM) = T*M ⊗ TM corresponding to the identity
endomorphism of the tangent spaces. In the frame e, the solder form is θ = Σi ei ⊗ θi,
where again θi is the dual basis.

The torsion of the connection is given by Θ = D θ, or in terms of the frame components of

the solder form by

Assuming again for simplicity that e is holonomic, this expression reduces to

which vanishes if and only if Γikj is symmetric on its lower indices.

Structure groups[edit]
A more specific type of connection form can be constructed when the vector
bundle E carries a structure group. This amounts to a preferred class of
frames e on E, which are related by a Lie group G. For example, in the presence
of a metric in E, one works with frames that form an orthonormal basis at each
 point. The structure group is then theorthogonal group, since this group
preserves the orthonormality of frames. Other examples include:

 The usual frames, considered in the preceding section, have structural group
GL(k) where k is the fibre dimension of E.
 The holomorphic tangent bundle of a complex manifold (or almost complex
manifold).[3] Here the structure group is GLn(C) ⊂ GL2n(R).[4] In case
a hermitian metric is given, then the structure group reduces to the unitary
group acting on unitary frames.[5]
 Spinors on a manifold equipped with a spin structure. The frames are unitary
with respect to an invariant inner product on the spin space, and the group
reduces to the spin group.
 Holomorphic tangent bundles on CR manifolds.[6]

In general, let E be a given vector bundle of fibre dimension k and G ⊂ GL(k) a

given Lie subgroup of the general linear group of Rk. If (eα) is a local frame of E,
then a matrix-valued function (gij): M → G may act on the eα to produce a new
frame

Two such frames are G-related. Informally, the vector bundle E has
the structure of a G-bundle if a preferred class of frames is specified, all of
which are locally G-related to each other. In formal terms, E is a fibre
bundle with structure group G whose typical fibre is Rk with the natural action
of G as a subgroup of GL(k).

Compatible connections[edit]
A connection is compatible with the structure of a G-bundle on E provided that the
associated parallel transport maps always send one G-frame to another. Formally, along
a curve γ, the following must hold locally (that is, for sufficiently small values of t):

for some matrix gαβ (which may also depend on t). Differentiation at t=0 gives

where the coefficients ωαβ are in the Lie algebra g of the Lie group G.

With this observation, the connection form ωαβ defined by

 is compatible with the structure if the matrix of one-forms ωαβ(e) takes its
values in g.

The curvature form of a compatible connection is, moreover, a g-valued two-

form.

Change of frame[edit]
Under a change of frame

where g is a G-valued function defined on an open subset of M, the

connection form transforms via

Or, using matrix products:

To interpret each of these terms, recall that g : M → G is a G-

valued (locally defined) function. With this in mind,

where ωg is the Maurer-Cartan form for the group G,

here pulled back to M along the function g, and Ad is
the adjoint representation of G on its Lie algebra.

Christoffel symbols
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In mathematics and physics, the Christoffel symbols, named for Elwin Bruno
Christoffel [1] (1829–1900), are numerical arrays of real numbers that describe, in
coordinates, the effects of parallel transport in curved surfaces and, more
generally, manifolds. As such, they are coordinate-space expressions for the Levi-Civita
connection derived from themetric tensor. In a broader sense, the connection
coefficients of an arbitrary (not necessarily metric) affine connection in a coordinate basis
are also called Christoffel symbols.[2]The Christoffel symbols may be used for performing
practical calculations in differential geometry. For example, the Riemann curvature
tensor can be expressed entirely in terms of the Christoffel symbols and their first partial
derivatives.
At each point of the underlying n-dimensional manifold, for any local coordinate system,
the Christoffel symbol is an array with three dimensions: n × n × n. Each of
the n3components is a real number.
Under linear coordinate transformations on the manifold, its components transform like
those of a tensor, but under general coordinate transformations, they do not. In many
practical problems, most components of the Christoffel symbols are equal to zero,
provided the coordinate system and the metric tensor possess some common
symmetries.
 In general relativity, the Christoffel symbol plays the role of the gravitational force
field with the corresponding gravitational potential being the metric tensor.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Preliminaries
 2 Definition
o 2.1 Christoffel symbols of the first kind
o 2.2 Christoffel symbols of the second kind (symmetric definition)
o 2.3 Connection coefficients in a non holonomic basis
o 2.4 Ricci rotation coefficients (asymmetric definition)
 3 Relationship to index-free notation
 4 Covariant derivatives of tensors
 5 Change of variable
 6 Applications to general relativity
 7 See also
 8 Notes
 9 References

Preliminaries[edit]
The definitions given below are valid for both Riemannian manifolds and pseudo-
Riemannian manifolds, such as those of general relativity, with careful distinction being
made between upper and lower indices (contra-variant and co-variant indices). The
formulas hold for either sign convention, unless otherwise noted. Einstein summation
convention is used in this article. The connection coefficients of the Levi-Civita
connection (or pseudo-Riemannian connection) expressed in a coordinate basis are
called the Christoffel symbols.

Definition[edit]
Given a local coordinate system xi, i = 1, 2, ..., n on a manifold M with metric tensor ,
the tangent vectors

define a local coordinate basis of the tangent space to M at each point of its domain.

Christoffel symbols of the first kind[edit]

The Christoffel symbols of the first kind can be derived either from the Christoffel
symbols of the second kind and the metric,[3]

or from the metric alone,[3]

As an alternative notation one also finds[1][4][5]

 It is worth noting that .[6]

Christoffel symbols of the second kind (symmetric

definition)[edit]
The Christoffel symbols of the second kind are the connection
coefficients —in a coordinate basis— of the Levi-Civita connection, and
since this connection has zero torsion, then in this basis the connection
coefficients are symmetric, i.e., .[4] For this reason a
torsion-free connection is often called 'symmetric'.

In other words, the Christoffel symbols of the second

kind [7][4] (sometimes or )[1][4] are defined as the unique

coefficients such that the equation

holds, where is the Levi-Civita connection on M taken in the

coordinate direction , i.e., and where is a
local coordinate (holonomic) basis.

The Christoffel symbols can be derived from the vanishing of

the covariant derivative of the metric tensor :

As a shorthand notation, the nabla symbol and the partial

derivative symbols are frequently dropped, and instead a semi-
colon and a comma are used to set off the index that is being
used for the derivative. Thus, the above is sometimes written as

Using that the symbols are symmetric in the lower two

indices, one can solve explicitly for the Christoffel symbols
as a function of the metric tensor by permuting the indices
and resumming:[6]

where is the inverse of the matrix , defined as (using the Kronecker delta,
and Einstein notation for summation) . Although the Christoffel symbols
are written in the same notation as tensors with index notation, they
are not tensors,[8] since they do not transform like tensors under a change of coordinates;
see below.

Connection coefficients in a non holonomic basis[edit]

The Christoffel symbols are most typically defined in a coordinate basis, which is the
convention followed here. In other words, the name Christoffel symbols is reserved
only for coordinate (i.e., holonomic) frames. However, the connection coefficients can
also be defined in an arbitrary (i.e., non holonomic) basis of tangent vectors by

Explicitly, in terms of the metric tensor, this is[7]

where are the commutation coefficients of the basis; that is,

where are the basis vectors and is the Lie bracket. The standard unit
vectors in spherical and cylindrical coordinates furnish an example of a basis
with non-vanishing commutation coefficients.

Ricci rotation coefficients (asymmetric definition)[edit]

When we choose the
basis orthonormal: then
. This implies that

and the connection coefficients become antisymmetric in the first two

indices:

where .

In this case, the connection coefficients are called the Ricci

[9][10]
rotation coefficients.

Equivalently, one can define Ricci rotation coefficients as follows:[7]

where is an orthonormal non holonomic basis

and its co-basis.

Relationship to index-free notation[edit]

Let X and Y be vector fields with components and . Then the kth component of
the covariant derivative of Y with respect to X is given by

Here, the Einstein notation is used, so repeated indices indicate summation over
indices and contraction with the metric tensor serves to raise and lower indices:

Keep in mind that and that , the Kronecker delta. The

convention is that the metric tensor is the one with the lower indices; the correct
way to obtain from is to solve the linear equations .

The statement that the connection is torsion-free, namely that

is equivalent to the statement that —in a coordinate basis— the Christoffel

symbol is symmetric in the lower two indices:

The index-less transformation properties of a tensor are given

by pullbacks for covariant indices, and pushforwards for contravariant
indices. The article on covariant derivativesprovides additional
discussion of the correspondence between index-free notation and
indexed notation.

Covariant derivatives of tensors[edit]

The covariant derivative of a vector field Vm is

The covariant derivative of a scalar field is just

and the covariant derivative of a covector field is

The symmetry of the Christoffel symbol now implies

 for any scalar field, but in general the covariant
derivatives of higher order tensor fields do not commute
(see curvature tensor).

The covariant derivative of a type

(2,0) tensor field is

that is,

If the tensor field is mixed then its covariant

derivative is

and if the tensor field is of type (0,2) then its

covariant derivative is

Torsion tensor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Torsion (disambiguation) and Torsion field (disambiguation).

Torsion along a geodesic.

In differential geometry, the notion of torsion is a manner of characterizing a twist

or screw of a moving frame around a curve. The torsion of a curve, as it appears in
the Frenet–Serret formulas, for instance, quantifies the twist of a curve about its tangent
vector as the curve evolves (or rather the rotation of the Frenet–Serret frame about the
tangent vector). In the geometry of surfaces, the geodesic torsiondescribes how a
surface twists about a curve on the surface. The companion notion
of curvature measures how moving frames "roll" along a curve "without twisting".
More generally, on a differentiable manifold equipped with an affine connection (that is,
a connection in the tangent bundle), torsion and curvature form the two fundamental
invariants of the connection. In this context, torsion gives an intrinsic characterization of
how tangent spaces twist about a curve when they are parallel transported; whereas
curvature describes how the tangent spaces roll along the curve. Torsion may be
described concretely as a tensor, or as a vector-valued two-form on the manifold. If ∇ is
an affine connection on adifferential manifold, then the torsion tensor is defined, in terms
of vector fields X and Y, by

where [X,Y] is the Lie bracket of vector fields.

Torsion is particularly useful in the study of the geometry of geodesics. Given a
system of parametrized geodesics, one can specify a class of affine connections
having those geodesics, but differing by their torsions. There is a unique connection
which absorbs the torsion, generalizing the Levi-Civita connection to other, possibly
non-metric situations (such as Finsler geometry). Absorption of torsion also plays a
fundamental role in the study of G-structures and Cartan's equivalence method.
Torsion is also useful in the study of unparametrized families of geodesics, via the
associated projective connection. In relativity theory, such ideas have been
implemented in the form of Einstein–Cartan theory.

Contents
[hide]

 1 The torsion tensor

o 1.1 Curvature and the Bianchi identities
o 1.2 Components of the torsion tensor
o 1.3 The torsion form
o 1.4 The curvature form and Bianchi identities
 1.4.1 Torsion form in a frame
o 1.5 Irreducible decomposition
 2 Characterizations and interpretations
o 2.1 Twisting of reference frames
o 2.2 The torsion of a filament
o 2.3 Torsion and vorticity
 3 Geodesics and the absorption of torsion
 4 See also
 5 Notes
 6 References

The torsion tensor[edit]

Let M be a manifold with a connection ∇ on the tangent bundle. The torsion
tensor (sometimes called the Cartan (torsion) tensor) is a vector-valued 2-
form defined on vector fields X and Y by

where [X,Y] is the Lie bracket of two vector fields. By the Leibniz rule, T(fX,Y)
= T(X,fY) = fT(X,Y) for any smooth function f. So T is tensorial, despite being
defined in terms of the non-tensorial covariant derivative: it gives a 2-form on
tangent vectors, while the covariant derivative is only defined for vector fields.
Curvature and the Bianchi identities[edit]
The curvature tensor of ∇ is a mapping TM × TM → End(TM) defined on vector
fields X, Y, and Z by
 Note that, for vectors at a point, this definition is independent of how the
vectors are extended to vector fields away from the point (thus it defines a
tensor, much like the torsion).
The Bianchi identities relate the curvature and torsion as
follows.[1] Let denote the cyclic sum over X, Y, and Z. For instance,

Then the following identities hold

1. Bianchi's first identity:

2. Bianchi's second identity:

Components of the torsion tensor[edit]

The components of the torsion tensor in terms of a local basis of sections (e1,
..., en) of the tangent bundle can be derived by setting X=ei, Y=ej and by introducing the
commutator coefficients γkijek := [ei,ej]. The components of the torsion are then

If the basis is holonomic then the Lie brackets vanish, .

So . In particular (see below) while the geodesic

equations determine the symmetric part of the connection, the torsion tensor
determines the antisymmetric part.

The torsion form[edit]

The torsion form, an alternative characterization of torsion, applies to the frame
bundle FM of the manifold M. This principal bundle is equipped with a connection
form ω, a gl(n)-valued one-form which maps vertical vectors to the generators of the
right action in gl(n) and equivariantly intertwines the right action of GL(n) on the
tangent bundle of FM with the adjoint representation on gl(n). The frame bundle also
carries a canonical one-form θ, with values in Rn, defined at a frame u ∈
FxM (regarded as a linear function u : Rn → TxM) by

where π : FM → M is the projection mapping for the principal bundle. The

torsion form is then

Equivalently, Θ = Dθ, where D is the exterior covariant derivative determined

by the connection.

The torsion form is a (horizontal) tensorial form with values in Rn, meaning
that under the right action of g ∈ Gl(n) it transforms equivariantly:
 where g acts on the right-hand side through its fundamental
representation on Rn.

The curvature form and Bianchi identities[edit]

The curvature form is the gl(n)-valued 2-form

where, again, D denotes the exterior covariant derivative. In terms of

the curvature form and torsion form, the corresponding Bianchi
identities are[2]

1.
2.
Moreover, one can recover the curvature and torsion tensors from
the curvature and torsion forms as follows. At a point u of FxM, one
has[3]

where again u : Rn → TxM is the function specifying the

frame in the fibre, and the choice of lift of the vectors via
π−1 is irrelevant since the curvature and torsion forms are
horizontal (they vanish on the ambiguous vertical vectors).

Torsion form in a frame[edit]

See also: connection form

The torsion form may be expressed in terms of a connection form on the base
manifold M, written in a particular frame of the tangent bundle (e1,...,en). The connection
form expresses the exterior covariant derivative of these basic sections:

The solder form for the tangent bundle (relative to this frame) is the dual basis θi ∈
T*M of the ei, so that θi(ej) = δij (the Kronecker delta.) Then the torsion 2-form has
components

In the rightmost expression,

are the frame-components of the torsion tensor, as given in the previous
definition.

It can be easily shown that Θi transforms tensorially in the sense that if a

different frame

for some invertible matrix-valued function (gij), then

In other terms, Θ is a tensor of type (1,2) (carrying one contravariant

and two covariant indices).

Alternatively, the solder form can be characterized in a frame-

independent fashion as the TM-valued one-form θ
on M corresponding to the identity endomorphism of the tangent
bundle under the duality isomorphism End(TM) ≈ TM ⊗ T*M. Then
the torsion two-form is a section of

given by

where D is the exterior covariant derivative. (See connection

form for further details.)

Irreducible decomposition[edit]
The torsion tensor can be decomposed into
two irreducible parts: a trace-free part and another part
which contains the trace terms. Using the index notation, the
trace of T is given by

and the trace-free part is

where δij is the Kronecker delta.

Intrinsically, one has

The trace of T, tr T, is an element of

T*M defined as follows. For each vector
 fixed X ∈ TM, T defines an element T(X) of
Hom(TM, TM) via

Then (tr T)(X) is defined as the trace of this

endomorphism. That is,

The trace-free part of T is then

where ι denotes the interior

product.

Curvature form
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In differential geometry, the curvature form describes curvature of a connection on

a principal bundle. It can be considered as an alternative to or generalization of
the curvature tensor in Riemannian geometry.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Definition
o 1.1 Curvature form in a vector bundle
 2 Bianchi identities
 3 References
 4 See also

Definition[edit]
Let G be a Lie group with Lie algebra , and P → B be a principal G-bundle. Let ω be
an Ehresmann connection on P (which is a -valued one-form on P).
Then the curvature form is the -valued 2-form on P defined by

Here stands for exterior derivative, is defined

by and D denotes the exterior
covariant derivative. In other terms,

Curvature form in a vector bundle[edit]

If E → B is a vector bundle, then one can also think of ω as a matrix of 1-forms
and the above formula becomes the structure equation:
 where is the wedge product. More precisely, if and denote

components of ω and Ω correspondingly, (so each is a usual 1-form and

each is a usual 2-form) then

For example, for the tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold, the

structure group is O(n) and Ω is a 2-form with values in the Lie algebra
of O(n), i.e. the antisymmetric matrices. In this case the form Ω is an
alternative description of the curvature tensor, i.e.

using the standard notation for the Riemannian curvature tensor.

Bianchi identities[edit]
If is the canonical vector-valued 1-form on the frame bundle,
the torsion of the connection form is the vector-valued 2-form
defined by the structure equation

where as above D denotes the exterior covariant derivative.

The first Bianchi identity takes the form

The second Bianchi identity takes the form

and is valid more generally for any connection in

a principal bundle.

Riemann curvature tensor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General relativity

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In the mathematical field of differential geometry, the Riemann curvature

tensor or Riemann–Christoffel tensor (after Bernhard Riemann and Elwin Bruno
Christoffel) is the most common method used to express the curvature of Riemannian
manifolds. It associates a tensor to each point of a Riemannian manifold (i.e., it is
a tensor field), that measures the extent to which the metric tensor is not locally isometric
to that of Euclidean space. The curvature tensor can also be defined for any pseudo-
Riemannian manifold, or indeed any manifold equipped with an affine connection. It is a
central mathematical tool in the theory of general relativity, the modern theory of gravity,
and the curvature of spacetime is in principle observable via the geodesic deviation
equation. The curvature tensor represents the tidal force experienced by a rigid body
moving along a geodesic in a sense made precise by theJacobi equation.

The curvature tensor is given in terms of the Levi-Civita connection by the following
formula:

where [u,v] is the Lie bracket of vector fields. For each pair of tangent
vectors u, v, R(u,v) is a linear transformation of the tangent space of the manifold. It
is linear in u and v, and so defines a tensor. Occasionally, the curvature tensor is
defined with the opposite sign.

If and are coordinate vector fields then and

therefore the formula simplifies to

The curvature tensor measures noncommutativity of the covariant derivative, and

as such is the integrability obstruction for the existence of an isometry with
Euclidean space (called, in this context, flat space). The linear
 transformation is also called the curvature
transformation or endomorphism.

The curvature formula can also be expressed in terms of the second covariant
derivative defined as:[1]

which is linear in u and v. Then:

Thus in the general case of non-coordinate vectors u and v, the

curvature tensor measures the noncommutativity of the second
covariant derivative.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Geometrical meaning
o 1.1 Informally
o 1.2 Formally
 2 Coordinate expression
 3 Symmetries and identities
 4 Special cases
 5 See also
 6 Notes
 7 References

Geometrical meaning[edit]
Informally[edit]
Imagine walking around the bounding white line of a tennis court with a stick held out in
front of you. When you reach the first corner of the court, you turn to follow the white line,
but you keep the stick held out in the same direction, which means you are now holding
the stick out to your side. You do the same when you reach each corner of the court.
When you get back to where you started, you are holding the stick out in exactly the
same direction as you were when you started (no surprise there).

Now imagine you are standing on the equator of the earth, facing north with the stick held
out in front of you. You walk north up along a line of longitude until you get to the north
pole. At that point you turn right, ninety degrees, but you keep the stick held out in the
same direction, which means you are now holding the stick out to your left. You keep
walking (south obviously – whichever way you set off from the north pole, it's south) until
you get to the equator. There, you turn right again (and so now you have to hold the stick
pointing out behind you) and walk along the equator until you get back to where you
started from. But here is the thing: the stick is pointing back along the equator from where
you just came, not north up to the pole how it was when you started!
The reason for the difference is that the surface of the earth is curved, whereas the
surface of a tennis court is flat, but it is not quite that simple. Imagine that the tennis court
is slightly humped along its centre-line so that it is like part of the surface of a cylinder. If
you walk around the court again, the stick still points in the same direction as it did when
you started. The reason is that the humped tennis court has extrinsic curvature but
no intrinsic curvature. The surface of the earth, however, has both extrinsic and intrinsic
curvature.

The Riemann curvature tensor is a way to capture a measure of the intrinsic curvature.
When you write it down in terms of its components (like writing down the components of
a vector), it consists of a multi-dimensional array of sums and products of partial
derivatives (some of those partial derivatives can be thought of as akin to capturing the
curvature imposed upon someone walking in straight lines on a curved surface).

Formally[edit]
When a vector in a Euclidean space is parallel transported around a loop, it will again
point in the initial direction after returning to its original position. However, this property
does not hold in the general case. The Riemann curvature tensor directly measures the
failure of this in a general Riemannian manifold. This failure is known as the non-
holonomy of the manifold.

Let xt be a curve in a Riemannian manifold M. Denote by τxt : Tx0M → TxtM the parallel
transport map along xt. The parallel transport maps are related to the covariant
derivativeby

for each vector field Y defined along the curve.

Suppose that X and Y are a pair of commuting vector fields. Each of these fields
generates a pair of one-parameter groups of diffeomorphisms in a neighborhood
of x0. Denote by τtX and τtY, respectively, the parallel transports along the flows
of X and Y for time t. Parallel transport of a vector Z ∈ Tx0M around the quadrilateral
with sides tY, sX, −tY, −sX is given by

This measures the failure of parallel transport to return Z to its original position in
the tangent space Tx0M. Shrinking the loop by sending s, t → 0 gives the
infinitesimal description of this deviation:

where R is the Riemann curvature tensor.

 Coordinate expression[edit]
Converting to the tensor index notation, the Riemann curvature tensor is
given by

where are the coordinate vector fields. The above

expression can be written using Christoffel symbols:

(see also the list of formulas in Riemannian geometry).

The Riemann curvature tensor is also the commutator of the

covariant derivative of an arbitrary covector with itself:[2][3]

since the connection is torsionless, which means that

the torsion tensor vanishes.

This formula is often called the Ricci identity.[4] This is the

classical method used by Ricci and Levi-Civita to obtain an
expression for the Riemann curvature tensor.[5] In this way, the
tensor character of the set of quantities is proved.

This identity can be generalized to get the commutators for two

covariant derivatives of arbitrary tensors as follows

This formula also applies to tensor densities without

alteration, because for the Levi-Civita (not generic)
connection one gets:[4]

It is sometimes convenient to also define the purely

covariant version by

Symmetries and identities[edit]

The Riemann curvature tensor has the following symmetries:
 The last identity was discovered by Ricci, but is often called the first Bianchi
identity or algebraic Bianchi identity, because it looks similar to
the Bianchi identity below. (Also, if there is nonzero torsion, the first Bianchi
identity becomes a differential identity of the torsion tensor.) These three
identities form a complete list of symmetries of the curvature tensor, i.e.
given any tensor which satisfies the identities above, one can find a
Riemannian manifold with such a curvature tensor at some point. Simple
calculations show that such a tensor has independent
components.

Yet another useful identity follows from these three:

On a Riemannian manifold one has the covariant derivative and

the Bianchi identity (often called the second Bianchi identity or
differential Bianchi identity) takes the form:

Given any coordinate chart about some point on the manifold, the
above identities may be written in terms of the components of the
Riemann tensor at this point as:

Skew symmetry

Interchange symmetry

First Bianchi identity

This is often written

where the brackets denote the antisymmetric part on the indicated indices. This is
equivalent to the previous version of the identity because the Riemann tensor is
already skew on its last two indices.
Second Bianchi identity

The semi-colon denotes a covariant derivative. Equivalently,

again using the antisymmetry on the last two indices of R.

The algebraic symmetries are also

equivalent to saying that R belongs
 to the image of the Young
symmetrizer corresponding to the
partition 2+2.

Special cases[edit]
Surfaces

For a two-dimensional surface, the Bianchi identities imply that the Riemann tensor can
be expressed as

where is the metric tensor and is a function called the Gaussian

curvature and a, b, c and d take values either 1 or 2. The Riemann tensor has only
one functionally independent component. The Gaussian curvature coincides with
the sectional curvature of the surface. It is also exactly half the scalar curvature of
the 2-manifold, while the Ricci curvature tensor of the surface is simply given by

Space forms

A Riemannian manifold is a space form if its sectional curvature is equal to a

constant K. The Riemann tensor of a space form is given by

Conversely, except in dimension 2, if the curvature of a Riemannian manifold

has this form for some function K, then the Bianchi identities imply that K is
constant and thus that the manifold is (locally) a space form.