Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/iii/paper-15/1/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 15 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In cotangent bundle coordinates , the Liouville one-form and the canonical symplectic form areThe twisted cotangent symplectic form is closed: pullback of a differential form commutes with the exterior derivative, soTo prove the form is nondegenerate, write a tangent vector in these coordinates as and test its pairing with an arbitrary vertical vector . The base differential two-form has zero pairing with vertical vectors, henceA vector in the kernel of a linear map therefore has . Pairing it next with every gives , so . Thus the kernel is zero at every point, independently of the size or rank of . Together with closedness, this proves is a symplectic form. The argument is local only for convenience; the nondegenerate property is intrinsic and the coordinate charts cover the whole cotangent bundle.
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