Poincaré lemma ($d\alpha =0⟹\alpha =d\beta \text{ locally},p>0$)

Every smooth closed differential form of positive degree is locally an exact differential form. On a coordinate ball centered at zero, put $F_t(x)=tx$ and let $R=x^i{\partial }_i$ be the radial vector field. Define the degree-lowering operatorFor a $p$-form with $p>0$, the integrand has a factor $t^{p-1}$ in its coordinate coefficients and is smooth at zero. Cartan's magic formula and differentiation of the pullback of a differential form give ${\partial }_t(F_t^{\ast }\alpha )=t^{-1}{F}_t^{\ast }(d{\iota }_R\alpha +{\iota }_{R}d\alpha )$. Integrating from zero to one gives $dK\alpha +Kd\alpha =\alpha$, since $F_0^{\ast }\alpha =0$ in positive degree. If $d\alpha =0$, take $\beta =K\alpha$. The local potential of a closed differential one-form gives the explicit degree-one construction. Global exactness can fail through nonzero periods, measured by de Rham cohomology.

Let a neighborhood of a submanifold retract onto it by fiberwise radial contraction in a tubular neighborhood. If a closed differential form $\beta$ pulls back to zero on the submanifold, the radial homotopy formula gives $\beta =d\alpha$, with $\alpha$ vanishing along the zero section. Applying the homotopy operator to $\beta$ gives the primitive directly. This is the relative ingredient in the relative Moser theorem.

On a star-shaped domain, let ${\rho }_t(x)=tx$ and $R=\sum x_j{\partial }_{x_j}$. On positive-degree differential forms, $H\alpha ={\int }_0^1{\rho }_t^{\ast }({\iota }_R\alpha )dt/t$ satisfies $dH+Hd=\mathrm{id}-{\rho }_0^{\ast }$. It gives a primitive of every closed positive-degree form. On a star-shaped domain in a complex vector space, contraction with the two type components of $R$ shows that $H$ sends type $(p,q)$ into $(p-1,q)\oplus (p,q-1)$. There is no primitive assertion for a nonzero constant function.

For radial contraction on a star-shaped domain, the homotopy formula is the identity in positive form degrees because pullback by the constant map vanishes there. On functions it is $h_{1}df=f-f(0)$. A nonzero constant is a counterexample to the uncorrected degree-zero identity. The Poincaré lemma is therefore an exactness assertion in positive degrees, while closed degree-zero forms are locally constant.

On a fiberwise star-shaped neighborhood, let $H_s$ scale fibers by $s$ and let $E$ be the radial vector field. For a closed differential form $\delta$ with zero pullback to the zero section, the homotopy primitive $\eta ={\int }_0^1{s}^{-1}{H}_s^{\ast }({\iota }_E\delta )ds$ satisfies $d\eta =\delta$. For a two-form, it vanishes as an ambient covector along that section, providing the fixed-submanifold condition in the relative Moser theorem.

On a star-shaped planar domain containing zero, let $\eta$ be a smooth closed differential one-form and set $f(x)={\int }_{[0,x]}\eta$. Green theorem on the triangle with vertices $0,x,x+h$ gives $f(x+h)-f(x)={\int }_{[x,x+h]}\eta$. Dividing by a displacement and taking its limit proves $df=\eta$. Thus every such form is an exact differential form, a degree-one version of the Poincaré lemma which uses only the planar integral theorem.

For a smooth differential one-form $\alpha ={\alpha }_i(x)d{x}^i$ with $d\alpha =0$, take a manifold chart identifying a neighborhood with a ball centered at zero, and set $\Phi (x)={\int }_0^1{x}^i{\alpha }_i(sx)ds$. Closedness means ${\partial }_j{\alpha }_i={\partial }_i{\alpha }_j$. ConsequentlyThus $d\Phi =\alpha$ in any dimension. This is the one-form case of the Poincaré lemma, and applies to spacetime as well as three-dimensional vector calculus. A global potential need not exist on a domain with nonzero periods.