Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / iii / Paper 16 / 3

Moser's trick turns variation of symplectic forms into an equation for a time-dependent vector field. Let ${\omega }_t$, $0\le t\le 1$, be a smooth path of symplectic forms on a compact manifold without boundary, with a constant de Rham cohomology class. Choose a smooth family of one-forms ${\alpha }_t$ such that ${\dot{\omega }}_t=d{\alpha }_t$. Such a smooth choice can be made using a fixed auxiliary metric; the essential requirement is this exactness throughout the path.

Nondegeneracy uniquely determines $X_t$ byLet $f_t$ be its flow, with $f_0=\mathrm{id}$. Compactness ensures existence over the whole parameter interval. By Cartan's magic formula,ThusThe path is made constant by a diffeomorphism moving with $X_t$. Every interpolating form must be nondegenerate; equal endpoint cohomology alone does not ensure that every linearly interpolated form is a symplectic form. On a noncompact manifold one instead needs completeness of this flow, or restricts to a sufficiently small neighborhood, as in the local argument below.

The Symplectic Darboux theorem says that every point of a $2n$-dimensional symplectic manifold has local coordinates $(q^1,\dots ,q^n,p_1,\dots ,p_n)$ in whichFirst choose linear coordinates at the point so the form there is standard. The required symplectic basis can be constructed inductively: choose $e,f$ with $\omega (e,f)=1$, split off their span, and repeat on its nondegenerate symplectic orthogonal complement. Extend these coordinates to a chart centered at zero.

Let ${\omega }_0$ be the constant standard form in this chart and $\eta =\omega -{\omega }_0$. The closed form $\eta$ vanishes at zero. On a small star-shaped ball the radial Poincare lemma supplies a primitiveSince ${\eta }_0=0$, this primitive is $O(|x{|}^2)$. The interpolating forms ${\omega }_t={\omega }_0+t\eta$ are nondegenerate on a common smaller ball, because they all agree with ${\omega }_0$ at zero and $t$ ranges over a compact interval.

Apply the local version of Moser's trick: solve ${\iota }_{X_t}{\omega }_t=-\alpha$. The vector fields are $O(|x{|}^2)$ and fix zero. On a sufficiently small ball their flows exist for $0\le t\le 1$ and remain inside the coordinate chart; the quadratic bound makes their displacement smaller than the available margin. The same pullback calculation gives $f_1^{\ast }\omega ={\omega }_0$. Thus $f_1$ is a local symplectomorphism from the standard ball into $M$, and its inverse supplies the desired Darboux chart. There are no local symplectic invariants beyond dimension.