Harmonic forms are fixed by a connected isometric group action (source code)

= Harmonic forms are fixed by a connected isometric group action

On a closed oriented <Riemannian manifold>, a smooth isometric action of a connected <Lie group> fixes every <harmonic differential form>. Each group element is connected to the identity through a smooth path, so its action is smoothly homotopic to the identity and fixes <de Rham cohomology>. Isometries preserve the <Hodge Laplacian>; uniqueness of the harmonic representative, from the <Hodge decomposition theorem>, then makes each form itself fixed.