Liouville vector field 2026-10-07
For an exact symplectic manifold with , the Liouville vector field is defined by . Cartan's magic formula gives . On a cotangent bundle using , take ; then generates the cotangent fiber-dilation flow.
First observe that the Liouville one-form is zero as an ambient covector exactly on the zero section. Indeed, , and is surjective. Since is invertible, therefore implies that maps the zero section onto itself. It induces a diffeomorphism defined by .
The map is a symplectomorphism, since it preserves . Let be the vertical Liouville vector field. With the chosen sign convention,
Preservation of both and forces because is nondegenerate. Its complete cotangent fiber-dilation flow is
Uniqueness of integral curves gives . If , let . Continuity and this commutation yield
Thus for every : the whole cotangent fiber over maps into the fiber over . This step proves that covers ; it was not assumed.
Now write . For any , choose a tangent vector to projecting to . Evaluating on it gives
Since is invertible, . Therefore
and is unique. This rigidity of cotangent Liouville-form preservation uses smoothness at the zero section; it follows from the canonical form and its dilation dynamics on the entire cotangent bundle.
A diffeomorphism of the entire cotangent bundle preserving the Liouville one-form is the cotangent lift of a diffeomorphism of the base. It preserves the zero section and the Liouville vector field, hence commutes with the cotangent fiber-dilation flow. The limit as the fiber contracts forces it to cover its restriction to the zero section. Evaluation of the preserved one-form then forces the inverse-transpose derivative action on each covector.