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A smooth vector field is a smooth section of a vector bundle $X:M\to TM$ of the tangent bundle, so $X_p\in T_{p}M$. In a manifold chart, $X=X^i{\partial }_i$ with smooth coefficients. It acts on a smooth function by $Xf=X^i{\partial }_{i}f$. For a diffeomorphism $\alpha :M\to N$, the pushforward of a vector field isThe Lie bracket of vector fields is the commutator of their actions on smooth functions:The second derivatives of $f$ cancel, so this is again a vector field. The corresponding Jacobi identity is $[X,[Y,Z]]+[Y,[Z,X]]+[Z,[X,Y]]=0$.

A local flow of $X$ is a smooth map $(t,p)\mapsto {\varphi }_t(p)$ on an open neighbourhood of $\{0\}\times M$ satisfying ${\varphi }_0(p)=p$ and ${\partial }_t{\varphi }_t(p)=X_{{\varphi }_t(p)}$. On a sufficiently small neighbourhood and time interval, each ${\varphi }_t$ is a diffeomorphism onto its image, with inverse ${\varphi }_{-t}$. Uniqueness of integral curves of a vector field gives ${\varphi }_{s+t}={\varphi }_s\circ {\varphi }_t$ wherever both sides are defined. These are local statements; no assumption of a complete vector field is required.

A smooth tensor field of type $(r,s)$ is a smooth section of $(TM{)}^{\otimes r}\otimes (T^{\ast }M{)}^{\otimes s}$, where the factors are the tangent bundle and cotangent bundle. The flow definition of the Lie derivative of a tensor field isHere pullback applies $d{\varphi }_t^{-1}$ to each vector factor and the dual of $d{\varphi }_t$ to each covector factor, evaluating $T$ at ${\varphi }_t(p)$. Thus all tensors being differentiated lie in the same fibre over $p$.

For a smooth function, ${\varphi }_t^{\ast }f=f\circ {\varphi }_t$, and the chain rule givesFor a vector field $Y$, in local coordinates the expansions ${\varphi }_t(x)=x+tX(x)+O(t^2)$ and $d{\varphi }_t(x)=I+td{X}_x+O(t^2)$ giveConsequentlyPullback preserves tensor products and tensor contractions, so differentiation makes this definition a tensor derivation. It therefore agrees on every tensor field with the Lie derivative of a tensor field determined by these two formulas.

Now put ${\psi }_t=\alpha \circ {\varphi }_t\circ {\alpha }^{-1}$. The chain rule givesThus ${\psi }_t$ is the local flow of ${\alpha }_{\ast }X$. In the case $M=N$, if ${\alpha }_{\ast }X=X$, uniqueness of integral curves of a vector field makes ${\psi }_t={\varphi }_t$ on their common domains, or $\alpha \circ {\varphi }_t={\varphi }_t\circ \alpha$. Conversely, differentiating this commuting identity at zero gives $d{\alpha }_p{X}_p=X_{\alpha (p)}$, hence ${\alpha }_{\ast }X=X$. This proves that diffeomorphism invariance of a vector field is equivalent to commuting with its local flow, with every identity understood on the domain where its compositions exist.