Chern curvature 2026-10-07
The vector-bundle curvature of the unique metric-compatible holomorphic Chern connection is an endomorphism-valued form of type . It is Dolbeault closed and represents the curvature Dolbeault class. Its trace gives normalized first-Chern forms, while its full endomorphism action enters the Lefschetz-Dolbeault curvature commutator.
The connection difference as an endomorphism-valued one-form follows because the graded Leibniz rule terms cancel:
Thus is a global endomorphism-valued one-form. To define the endomorphism bundle connection, require
The right side is -linear in , so it is indeed an endomorphism-valued one-form, and replacing by gives . In a frame with connection matrix , its extension to an endomorphism-valued -form is
The endomorphism-valued exterior product combines the wedge of differential forms with composition in . In particular,
Expanding proves the curvature difference formula:
The Chern connection is characterized by metric compatibility and . Take Hermitian inner products linear in the first variable. In a holomorphic local frame write , with a positive Hermitian matrix. The second condition forces , and metric compatibility is
Its component determines uniquely:
Conversely this formula and its conjugate transpose satisfy the metric equation. Under a holomorphic local frame change, and , so the displayed formula transforms by . Hence the local matrices patch, proving existence and uniqueness.
Differentiating gives
Therefore the vector-bundle curvature is zero. There is no component, and
The last equality is in holomorphic local frames, so is intrinsic. This is Dolbeault closedness of Chern curvature. The induced endomorphism bundle connection is itself the Chern connection for the Hilbert-Schmidt metric on : the tensor product of a metric-compatible connection and its dual preserves the induced metric, and its part is the induced holomorphic Dolbeault operator. These two properties and uniqueness suffice; no further matrix calculation is needed.
For two metrics, both Chern connections have the same part, so . The part of the curvature difference formula is just ; the other two terms have type , which must cancel because both vector-bundle curvatures have type . Thus
By Dolbeault theorem, this proves that the curvature Dolbeault class
is independent of the metric.
Endomorphism composition and wedge product of differential forms define the powers in , rather than in a tensor power of the endomorphism bundle. The Dolbeault operator is a derivation, so . The noncommutative telescoping identity gives the stronger explicit independence statement
All powers of vector-bundle curvature have even total degree, so the derivation introduces no extra signs before . Consequently
is metric independent. For , the form space and the resulting class are zero. This proves metric independence of curvature Dolbeault powers without assuming that endomorphism-valued forms commute.