A connection on a vector bundle is a complex-linear map satisfying the Leibniz rule . It is compatible with the Hermitian metric on a holomorphic vector bundle when
and compatible with the holomorphic structure when its type- part is the Dolbeault partial connection:
A real (1, 1)-form is a form satisfying . In holomorphic coordinates it has the form
It is a positive real (1, 1)-form when
for every nonzero tangent vector of type , equivalently when the Hermitian matrix is positive definite.
A holomorphic local trivialization of a holomorphic line bundle is equivalently a nowhere-zero holomorphic local frame . A connection is unitary when it preserves the fiberwise Hermitian inner product:
The Chern connection is the unique unitary connection whose part is the bundle's Dolbeault partial connection .
In a holomorphic frame, put . The local formula for the Chern connection on a line bundle is
The curvature therefore has type . Since a unitary connection has imaginary curvature, , and hence
Thus is a real -form.
For connections on and on , the tensor product connection is defined on decomposable local sections by
The curvature of a tensor product connection on line bundles is additive:
Consequently
which is positive whenever both summands are positive.
For the final assertion, simultaneously diagonalize the positive Hermitian matrices of and by congruence at the chosen point. In the resulting coframe,
A direct wedge-product calculation gives
If and are linearly independent, at least one of these minors is nonzero. Every coefficient is positive, so the sum is strictly positive. This is wedge positivity for two positive (1, 1)-forms.
A Hermitian metric on a holomorphic vector bundle is a smoothly varying family of positive-definite Hermitian forms on its fibers. A Chern connection is a connection on a vector bundle that is compatible with and whose part is the bundle's Dolbeault partial connection, .
Choose a local holomorphic frame and write . The connection form in this frame is
If for a nowhere-zero holomorphic function , then and
which is exactly the connection-form transformation law. The local formulas therefore define a global connection.
Identify with the tautological bundle over Complex projective space. The standard Hermitian inner product of restricts to each tautological line. On the affine chart , put for and use the holomorphic frame
Then
The curvature form of a connection is
Consequently Chern-Weil theory gives the closed representative
where is the Fubini-Study form.
For a scalar form and a section of , define the Dolbeault partial connection on decomposable forms by
and extend linearly. This is independent of the chosen local expression precisely because the original operator obeys its Leibniz rule.
Applying the rule twice makes the two mixed terms cancel. Since is complex, , and for every smooth function and -valued form one obtains
Thus is linear over .