A nondegenerate Poisson bivector inverts to a closed differential form of degree two. Differentiating gives . Contracting the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector with three copies of yields , which is precisely closure of the resulting symplectic form. An overall sign in the inverse convention does not change closure.
Lie-Poisson bracket Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
The dual space of a finite-dimensional Lie algebra has this canonical Poisson bracket. For a basis , linear coordinates give . The Lie algebra's Jacobi identity is precisely the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector. This construction is intrinsic on the dual space; writing the same formula in an arbitrary manifold chart does not by itself provide a compatible global atlas.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 58 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A Poisson manifold is a smooth manifold with an antisymmetric contravariant tensor field such that the bracketsatisfies the Jacobi identity. Bilinearity, antisymmetry and the Leibniz rule follow directly from this formula. The Poisson bivector is allowed to be degenerate.
Apply the Jacobi identity to coordinate functions . Necessity gives the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector:For sufficiency, expand . The terms differentiating are . All terms containing second derivatives cancel. For example, those containing have coefficient , which is antisymmetric under after contraction with , whereas is symmetric. The same argument handles the second derivatives of and . Thus the displayed condition is both necessary and sufficient.
A symplectic manifold has a smooth nondegenerate closed differential form of degree two. Write and choose the explicit inverse convention . This defines a smooth antisymmetric bivector. Differentiating the inverse matrix givesSubstitution into the Jacobi coefficient, followed by relabeling summed indices, givessince the parentheses are the components of . Hence every symplectic manifold carries a Poisson structure. The opposite overall convention for the inverse bracket gives the same conclusion. Nondegeneracy and closure together are crucial; an arbitrary invertible antisymmetric tensor need not satisfy the Jacobi identity.
For a finite-dimensional Lie algebra , its dual space carries the Lie-Poisson bracketwhere are identified with elements of . If and , this reads . The Jacobi coefficient iswhich vanishes by the Lie algebra Jacobi identity.
In particular, the dual of is with the rotational Lie-Poisson structure on R3,The Poisson bivector has rank two away from the origin and rank zero at the origin. The function is a Casimir function, since its bracket with every function vanishes. The centred spheres are its two-dimensional symplectic leaves, and the origin is a point leaf. This is a Poisson manifold but not a symplectic manifold: its bivector is not invertible, and an odd-dimensional manifold cannot have a nondegenerate alternating bilinear form.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 63 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A symplectic manifold is a smooth manifold with a closed, nondegenerate two-form . Nondegeneracy forces . Examples are with , an oriented surface with a nowhere-zero area form, and every cotangent bundle with its canonical form.
A Poisson manifold has a bivector such that is an antisymmetric bilinear Poisson bracket, is a derivation in each argument, and satisfies the Jacobi identity. Its rank need not be full or constant. The zero bivector gives a Poisson manifold on any smooth manifold, including an odd-dimensional or nonorientable one. A nonzero example on is the Lie-Poisson bracket : it has rank two off the origin and rank zero at the origin, so it does not arise from a symplectic form on the whole three-dimensional space. Even on , is Poisson, since its Jacobi condition is a three-vector and hence vanishes, but its degeneracy on prevents it from being the inverse of a global symplectic form. A manifold carrying a degenerate Poisson structure might separately admit some other symplectic structure; these are distinct claims.
At each point of a symplectic manifold, linear nondegeneracy gives a basis with . Its top wedge product of differential forms isThus is a global nowhere-zero volume form and selects a consistent symplectic orientation. This proves every symplectic manifold is orientable without choosing a global frame.
Let and let a point of the cotangent bundle be with . Define the canonical Liouville one-form intrinsically by . In local coordinates it is , soThis definition is global, by , and its coordinate matrix has invertible blocks. Hence is symplectic for every smooth , even if itself is not orientable.
The coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector isNecessity follows by applying the Jacobi identity to three coordinate functions. For arbitrary functions, the second-derivative terms in the Jacobiator cancel by antisymmetry of ; the terms left are exactly this coefficient multiplying , proving sufficiency.
For a symplectic form, take and . With these signs the matrix of is . Differentiation gives . The cyclic expression above consequently equalswhich vanishes because . This directly proves that a symplectic manifold defines a Poisson manifold.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 65 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A Poisson manifold is a smooth manifold with a smooth antisymmetric bivector whose function bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity. The bracket is automatically a derivation in each argument. A symplectic manifold has a nondegenerate differential two-form satisfying , that is, a closed differential form; nondegeneracy forces its dimension to be even. It determines a nondegenerate Poisson structure. We use matrix convention , so that corresponds to .
Examples of genuinely nonsymplectic Poisson geometries include the zero bracket on and the Lie-Poisson bracket on . Their three-dimensional underlying manifold cannot carry a nondegenerate two-form. In the latter case the Poisson rank is two away from the origin and zero at the origin, with spheres and the origin as symplectic leaves. Even in even dimension a given Poisson structure need not come from a symplectic form: on satisfies Jacobi but vanishes along . The statement concerns this degenerate structure, not a claim that admits no other symplectic structure.
For any candidate bivector, applying the Jacobi identity to coordinate functions gives the necessary conditionIt is sufficient as well: expanding and its cyclic companions cancels all terms with second derivatives by antisymmetry of . What remains is . This is the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector.
For a symplectic form, differentiate to obtain . Substituting this into the cyclic expression givesbecause . Thus the inverse symplectic structure always satisfies the Jacobi identity. Conversely, for a nondegenerate Poisson structure, multiplying by three inverse matrices proves closure of its associated two-form.
In momentum space, choose Hamiltonian and the constant Poisson bivectorIts Poisson bracket is . The Hamiltonian vector field therefore givesexactly the prescribed motion. The sign here uses the signed charge as printed; an electron's physical charge may be negative. Since the magnetic field is uniform, every derivative of vanishes, so every term in is zero. Jacobi holds independently of the dispersion function . This is the momentum-space Poisson structure for a uniform magnetic field.
For this bivector has rank two and is a Casimir function of a Poisson manifold: for every . Its symplectic leaves are the planes . For axes with , the leaf form is in our inverse-sign convention. Also , so trajectories on a Fermi surface lie on its intersections with these planes, typically curves. The energy surface is invariant for this Hamiltonian, but need not be a Poisson submanifold; the bracket has been defined on the whole momentum space. If , the Poisson structure and motion vanish.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 51 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be a smooth antisymmetric matrix field. It defines a Poisson bivector throughThis Poisson bracket is bilinear, antisymmetric and a derivation in each argument. It defines a Poisson manifold when it also satisfies the Jacobi identity. Apply that identity in the form to the coordinate functions. Since , it givesThis is the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector. It is also sufficient: in the Jacobi identity for arbitrary functions the terms containing second derivatives cancel by antisymmetry, leaving . Thus the coordinate condition captures the whole obstruction.
Now suppose the Poisson bivector is nondegenerate. Write , so , and define the 2-formAn overall minus sign in identifying the symplectic form depends on the convention for Hamiltonian vector fields; it does not affect the closure argument. Differentiating the inverse matrix givesContract the coordinate Jacobi identity with . Antisymmetry gives , and similarly for the other terms, henceThe cyclic expression is precisely the coefficient of the exterior derivative . ThereforeSince is antisymmetric and nondegenerate, is a symplectic form. This proves the closure of the inverse of a nondegenerate Poisson bivector. The matrix entries are scalar functions; the codomain in the source's matrix description should be read as the space of antisymmetric matrices, rather than a vector-valued individual entry.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 313 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A Poisson bivector is a smooth antisymmetric contravariant two-tensorwhose bracket on smooth functions,satisfies the Jacobi identity. Bilinearity and antisymmetry are immediate, and the product rule makes the bracket a derivation in each argument. Together these properties define a Poisson manifold. Unlike a symplectic form, the Poisson bivector need not be nondegenerate.
Apply the Jacobi identity to the coordinate functions. Since ,Changing to and rearranging the three summands gives the printed coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector:This is also sufficient: expanding the Jacobiator of three arbitrary smooth functions, all terms involving second derivatives cancel in pairs by antisymmetry. The remaining coefficient of is the coordinate-function Jacobiator displayed above.
For a Lie algebra, the natural global space carrying the proposed linear bracket is its dual space . If is the chosen basis, define its linear coordinate function by . The Lie-Poisson bracket iswhere are elements of . On a general manifold the same coordinate expression gives a local construction; a global one requires compatible transition rules. The use of supplies that compatibility intrinsically.
Here and . The left side of the coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector is thereforeThe final coefficient is the negative of the coefficient of in the Lie algebra identity . Thus the Lie-Poisson bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity.
It remains to find the Lie algebra structure constants for the printed rotation fields. Distinguish their original spatial coordinates from the coordinates on the dual space. Use the conventional Lie bracket of vector fields. Their component vectors are , and , respectively. For example,Similarly,The negative sign is essential: these are the fundamental fields of a left rotation action with the stated Lie bracket of vector fields, and consequently have the infinitesimal left-action sign convention discussed above. The first field here has component , as printed in the PDF.
The Lie-Poisson bracket on the dual space consequently hasFor the evolution convention , the Hamiltonian function has derivatives . Substitution gives the quadratic rotational Lie-Poisson dynamicsThese are Euler-type Hamilton's equations on a noncanonical Poisson manifold. When , and with positive principal inertias, they are the Euler equations for a torque-free rigid body in body angular-momentum coordinates. As a check, is conserved by antisymmetry of the Poisson bracket, and is a Casimir function of a Poisson manifold. Direct differentiation of in the three equations cancels the terms . The Hamiltonian flow therefore lies on both an energy level and a sphere, a symplectic leaf of this signed rotational bracket.
Poisson bivector 2026-10-06
A smooth antisymmetric contravariant two-tensor defines a biderivation . It is a Poisson bivector when this bracket satisfies the Jacobi identity. Its rank may vary; where it is nondegenerate it inverts to a symplectic form. The coordinate Jacobi condition for a Poisson bivector makes the integrability constraint explicit.