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An Anosov diffeomorphism is a continuously differentiable diffeomorphism of a compact smooth manifold with an invariant splitting of its tangent bundle into stable and unstable vector subbundles satisfying the displayed uniform exponential estimates for $n\ge 0$, with $C,\lambda >0$. Hyperbolic toral automorphisms give examples. An Anosov flow has a further one-dimensional invariant bundle along the flow direction; its definition is a distinct continuous-time version of uniform hyperbolicity.

An anti-symplectic map between symplectic manifolds is a diffeomorphism $f$ satisfying $f^{\ast }{\omega }^{\prime }=-\omega$. For symplectic vector spaces, the analogous definition uses an invertible linear map.

A Riemannian metric is boundary rigid within a specified class if the distances it induces between all pairs of boundary points determine the interior metric, up to a diffeomorphism that fixes the boundary pointwise. The qualification is unavoidable: relabeling interior points in this way changes the coordinate expression of the metric without changing any boundary distance.

This inverse problem idealizes recovering an interior wave-speed geometry from boundary travel times. Its data are shortest-path distances, so arbitrary trapped regions need not be visible. For a Euclidean disk, multiplying the metric by $c^2$ multiplies every boundary distance by $c$; this simple experiment already distinguishes a uniform change of travel-time scale. Determining a general spatially varying metric is much harder. A landmark theorem proves boundary rigidity for compact simple two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds, where the boundary is strictly convex and the relevant geodesics have no conjugate-point ambiguity.^[ref]

On a compact smooth manifold without boundary, every smooth self-map sufficiently $C^1$-close to a diffeomorphism is a diffeomorphism. Reducing to a map near the identity, invertibility of its differential follows uniformly by compactness. It is then a proper local diffeomorphism, hence a finite covering map. Sufficient $C^0$ closeness gives a homotopy to the identity on each component; its induced map on the fundamental group is surjective. The covering therefore has one sheet on each component, proving the assertion. This lets a nearby Lagrangian submanifold transverse to cotangent fibers be represented by a single global differential one-form graph.

The change of variables formula expresses an integral in coordinates that make its integrand or its region simpler. Three ingredients change together: the region, the function being integrated, and the element of area or volume. The last change is measured by the absolute Jacobian determinant; forgetting it amounts to counting transformed cells as though their sizes had stayed the same.

In one dimension, substitution is the integrated chain rule. If $g$ is continuously differentiable on $[a,b]$ and $f$ is continuous on its image, thenThese are directed definite integrals: if $g$ decreases, the transformed endpoints reverse. This identity does not require $g$ to be injective, because an antiderivative composed with $g$ already accounts for any backtracking.^[ref]

For a concrete computation, set $u=1+x^2$, so $du=2xdx$. The endpoints $x=0,1$ become $u=1,2$:The numerator is precisely the derivative of the expression in the denominator. Substitution reveals the familiar natural logarithm hidden inside this rational function. Keeping the original endpoints after changing the integrand would describe a different integral.

For the elementary two-dimensional theorem, let $T:U\to V$ be a $C^1$ diffeomorphism between open sets in the plane, let $S\subset U$ be a bounded region with piecewise smooth boundary, and let $f$ be continuous on $T(S)$, with the displayed integrals finite. ThenHere $DT$ is the Jacobian matrix. The diffeomorphism assumption means a bijection with a continuously differentiable inverse, and ensures a nonzero Jacobian determinant. This excludes overlapping sheets; the more general area formula handles multiplicity.^[ref]

Take $S=[0,1{]}^2$ and the linear mapIts inverse is $(u,v)=((x-y)/2,y)$. The square becomes a parallelogram with vertices $(0,0),(2,0),(3,1),(1,1)$: base two, height one, area two. Consequently ${\iint }_{T(S)}1dxdy={\iint }_{S}2dudv=2$. A nonconstant integrand changes too: ${\iint }_{T(S)}xdxdy={\int }_0^1{\int }_0^1(2u+v)2dudv=3$.

The direction of the map matters when selecting the factor. Here $T$ goes from the new coordinates to the original coordinates, so the factor is two. Its inverse has Jacobian determinant $1/2$, appropriate for converting area in the opposite direction. Writing down the map before computing its Jacobian matrix prevents a reciprocal-factor error.

Now reflect the image vertically: $\tilde{T}(u,v)=(2u+v,-v)$ has Jacobian determinant $-2$, but still produces area two. The sign records reversal of the orientation of a vector space; ordinary area uses its absolute value. For oriented differential forms, the pullback of a differential form instead retains the signed determinant.^[ref]

The geometric beauty is that a nonlinear differentiable map has a local linear approximation: tiny rectangles behave approximately like these parallelograms. Summing their scaled contributions gives the change of variables formula. In polar coordinates this factor is $r$, explaining $dxdy=rdrd\theta$; equal angular steps cover more area farther from the origin. Choosing suitable coordinates can simplify both the boundary and the integrand.^[ref]

Let a random vector $X$ have probability density function $f_X$ on an open set $U\subseteq {\mathbb{R}}^d$. If $g:U\to V$ is a continuously differentiable diffeomorphism onto an open set $V$, with nonsingular Jacobian matrix, then $Y=g(X)$ has probability density functionand zero off $V$. A diffeomorphism includes differentiability of the inverse; a merely differentiable bijection is not the full hypothesis needed for this density formula. The determinant corrects local volume, and its absolute value accounts for an orientation reversal.

Indeed, for a Borel set $A\subseteq V$, apply the change of variables formula to $\mathbb{P}(Y\in A)={\int }_{g^{-1}(A)}{f}_X(x)dx$. The resulting integral over $A$ identifies the probability density function.

For example, if $X$ has an exponential distribution of rate $\lambda >0$ and $Y=X^2$, use the diffeomorphism $(0,\infty )\to (0,\infty )$. It gives $f_Y(y)=\lambda e^{-\lambda \sqrt{y}}/(2\sqrt{y})$ for $y>0$. Its integrable singularity at zero does not create a point mass. A map with several inverse branches requires summing their density contributions rather than choosing a single inverse.

For a random variable $X$ with probability density function $f_X$ on an interval, let $Y=h(X)$, where $h$ is a diffeomorphism onto another interval. The change of variables formula givesIndeed, integrating the right-hand side over an outcome interval gives the probability that $X$ lies in its inverse image. The absolute derivative preserves positive probability when $h$ reverses orientation. A gravity deflection of an atomic beam is a physical example: its speed-to-height transformation changes the probability density and its mode.

Before characteristic crossing, the scalar conservation law $u_t+f(u{)}_x=0$ has solution $u(t,X_t(\xi ))=u_0(\xi )$ with $X_t(\xi )=\xi +t{f}^{\prime }(u_0(\xi ))$. When this map is a diffeomorphism, the solution is $u_0\circ X_t^{-1}$. Its spatial derivative is $u_0^{\prime }(\xi )/(1+t{f}^{\prime \prime }(u_0(\xi ))u_0^{\prime }(\xi ))$.

Two closed, connected symplectic surfaces are symplectomorphic exactly when their genus of a surface and total symplectic area agree. Necessity follows from invariance of topology and the integral of the pulled-back symplectic form.

For sufficiency, the classification of compact surfaces supplies an orientation-preserving diffeomorphism between surfaces of the same genus. Pull both forms back to one surface. Their equal integrals make their classes in $H^2(\Sigma ;\mathbb{R})$ equal. The interpolation ${\omega }_t=(1-t){\omega }_0+t{\omega }_1$ remains positive, since in two dimensions the two positive forms are pointwise positive multiples of each other. Moser theorem now gives an isotopy identifying them.^[ref]

The boundaryless hypothesis matters. A disk and an annulus can have the same genus and the same total area, but different numbers of boundary components prevent even a diffeomorphism. Boundary versions of the classification require the corresponding topology and boundary conditions.

For a connected abelian Lie group, the Lie exponential map is an additive group homomorphism and a local diffeomorphism at zero. Its image is an open subgroup, hence the whole connected group. Its kernel is a discrete additive subgroup of a real vector space. A basis of that kernel identifies it with ${\mathbb{Z}}^r$ inside ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, giving the displayed classification. The compact factors record periods of one-parameter subgroups.

If $[\sigma ]\ne 0$ in de Rham cohomology, a twisted cotangent symplectic form has no Lagrangian submanifold whose projection is a diffeomorphism onto the entire base. Such a submanifold would be a global one-form graph, and the twisted Lagrangian graph criterion would make $\sigma$ exact.

For a fixed closed orientable Riemannian surface, the smooth metrics with a specified scalar Laplace-Beltrami operator spectrum form a compact set modulo diffeomorphisms, in the smooth topology. This is a compactness assertion, not uniqueness or finiteness of the number of Riemannian isometry classes. It restricts geometric degeneration within an isospectral set and uses more information than the leading heat invariants alone. The theorem was established in the 1988 compactness paper.

A smooth vector field is complete if its maximal integral curves of a vector field exist for every real time. Its local flow is then a global one-parameter group of diffeomorphisms; uniqueness of ordinary differential equations proves the group law and the inverse-time identity. On a compact manifold without boundary, every smooth vector field is complete: compactness gives a uniform positive local existence interval through every point, so a curve can be successively extended past any proposed finite endpoint. On $\mathbb{R}$, $x^2{\partial }_x$ is not complete because its solution $x(t)=x_0/(1-t{x}_0)$ has finite-time blowup for $x_0>0$.

The conformal group of a metric manifold consists of diffeomorphisms $f$ with $f^{\ast }g={\Omega }^{2}g$ for a positive function $\Omega$. Its infinitesimal generators are Conformal Killing vector fields. The choice of manifold matters: in flat Euclidean dimension greater than two, special conformal transformations can be regular on the conformal compactification of Euclidean space while having finite poles in the uncompactified space.

The constant rank theorem separates the directions a smooth map preserves from the directions it forgets. If a smooth map from an open subset of ${\mathbb{R}}^m$ to ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ has derivative of constant rank $r$ on a neighbourhood of a point, there are local coordinate transformations in source and target in which it becomesIt keeps $r$ coordinates, discards the other $m-r$, and inserts $n-r$ zeros. This is stronger than simplifying the Jacobian matrix at one point: it straightens the actual nonlinear map on a neighbourhood. ^[ref]

For a worked example, takeThe two columns agree, and the first row is nonzero, so the rank is exactly one everywhere. The image of a function is the parabola $b=a^2$. Every line $x+y=a$ is a fiber mapping to the same point $(a,a^2)$.

Choose input coordinates $u=x+y$, $v=x-y$, and output coordinates $\alpha =a$, $\beta =b-a^2$. Both coordinate transformations are diffeomorphisms: their inverses are $x=(u+v)/2$, $y=(u-v)/2$ and $a=\alpha$, $b=\beta +{\alpha }^2$. In these coordinates,The curved image has become a straight line, and the unused coordinate $v$ is explicit.

Constant rank on a neighbourhood is essential. The map $(x,y)\mapsto (x,y^2)$ has rank one when $y=0$ and two when $y\ne 0$, so the constant rank theorem does not supply one rank-one form across that line. By contrast, the full-rank square case of the theorem forgets no coordinates and recovers the inverse function theorem. The usefulness is that curved fibers and images can often be studied through this simpler local form.

A convex normal neighbourhood is an open set whose points have unique smoothly varying joining geodesics, with the joining geodesic contained in the set. The corresponding star-shaped restriction of each exponential map is a diffeomorphism onto the neighbourhood. Hence its differential is invertible and no such joining geodesic admits a nonzero Jacobi field vanishing at both endpoints. Every point of a Riemannian manifold has arbitrarily small such neighbourhoods. This is stronger than merely requiring the existence of a minimizing geodesic in the set.

Consider the examples of a surface of revolutionwith $u\in \mathbb{R}$ and $s>0$. Their first fundamental forms and Gaussian curvatures areThe diffeomorphism $u=\log \sinh s$ matches Gaussian curvature but does not match the metrics.

To rule out every local isometry, compare the squared norm of the gradient of Gaussian curvature. At matching points put $x=e^{2u}={\sinh }^{2}s>0$. Differentiation givesTheir ratio is $x/(1+x)<1$. A local isometry would preserve both Gaussian curvature, which fixes $x$, and this gradient norm, an impossibility. Checking only one particular diffeomorphism would not exclude a different local isometry.

Transforming a metric tensor and all matter fields together by the pullback of a diffeomorphism preserves the Einstein field equations and covariant matter equations. Passive coordinate changes only change the description of the fields; active pullbacks produce another representative of the geometry. The treatment of transformations acting on a boundary depends on the boundary conditions and possible charges. A diffeomorphism is not necessarily an isometry of a fixed metric.

For the Riemannian exponential map ${\exp }_p(v)={\gamma }_v(1)$, uniqueness of the geodesic equation gives ${\exp }_p(tv)={\gamma }_v(t)$. Differentiation at $t=0$ yields $(d{\exp }_p{)}_{0}v=v$. Smooth ODE dependence and the inverse function theorem therefore make ${\exp }_p$ a diffeomorphism on a neighborhood of zero, producing geodesic normal coordinates. This is a local assertion and requires no geodesic completeness.

A finite-dimensional commutative real algebra with a Euclidean multiplicative norm has dimension at most two. Automatic real bilinearity from a multiplicative norm supplies bilinearity if it was not part of the initial description. On its unit sphere, squaring has derivative $v\mapsto 2xv$, injective because there are no zero divisors. The only equal squares are antipodal pairs, so the map induces an injective immersion ${\mathbb{RP}}^{n-1}\to S^{n-1}$. Compactness and the inverse function theorem make it a diffeomorphism when $n\ge 2$. For $n\ge 3$, the fundamental groups $\mathbb{Z}/2$ and zero contradict this. The real and complex number algebras attain dimensions one and two.