A Riemannian metric on a Lie group is bi-invariant if both left and right translations are isometries. Its identity inner product is invariant under the Adjoint representation of a Lie group; infinitesimally,
This skew-adjointness is the key additional property beyond left invariance.
Suppose these sets exhaust a manifold, and its Riemannian metric is Euclidean beyond some radius in the end coordinates. A finite-time geodesic has fixed speed and cannot increase its exterior radius faster than that speed. It remains in one compact core enlargement, with velocity in a compact disk bundle. The geodesic equation therefore continues beyond every finite parameter endpoint. The compactness hypothesis is substantive: the open exterior of a closed Euclidean ball, with empty core, is incomplete at its inner boundary despite having a Euclidean metric at infinity.
Compatible triple 2026-10-05
A compatible triple consists of a symplectic form, a compatible almost complex structure, and the Riemannian metric . Equivalently .
Conformal metric 2026-10-05
In a holomorphic coordinate, a length element . Smooth positive densities define ordinary Riemannian metrics; extremal length also permits nonnegative measurable densities with finite positive area .
For the Levi-Civita connection of a Riemannian metric, the divergence of is . In coordinates it equals . On an oriented manifold it satisfies . The codifferential on a one-form satisfies , where is the musical isomorphism; this follows by integration by parts or the Hodge star formula.
Euclidean metric 2026-10-06
The Euclidean metric is the constant Riemannian metric on given in Cartesian coordinates by . Its Levi-Civita connection has zero Christoffel symbols in those coordinates, so it is flat and its geodesics are straight lines. The Euclidean norm is the pointwise length determined by this metric.
Euclidean plane Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Euclidean plane is with its standard Euclidean norm and the resulting distance, angles, and Riemannian metric.
The Koszul formula uniquely determines for all vector fields , so nondegeneracy of the Riemannian metric determines . The resulting operation is -linear in , obeys the Leibniz rule in , is compatible with the metric, and is torsion-free. It is therefore the unique Levi-Civita connection.
The Morse lemma gives coordinates . Choose a Riemannian metric Euclidean in these coordinates. A downward gradient flow converging to has eventually, while . Thus its Riemannian distance from decays exponentially. A partition of unity makes this a global metric choice; changing the metric may change the trajectories.
Fiber metric Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
A fiber metric on a real smooth vector bundle is a positive-definite inner product on each fiber that varies smoothly in vector bundle trivializations. A smooth partition of unity subordinate to trivializing charts averages their Euclidean inner products. Nonnegative weights preserve positivity and local finiteness ensures smoothness. Hence every real vector bundle over a Hausdorff second-countable smooth manifold admits a fiber metric. Applied to the tangent bundle, this is existence of a Riemannian metric.
On a connected regular radial interval, trivial holonomy around circular fibres forces the continuous function to be integer-valued, hence constant. The resulting Riemannian metrics have , with and on the interval. Their Gaussian curvature is . For , and give a local isometry to the Euclidean plane; for , give a flat cylindrical chart. The polar developing map is injective on the regular domain when , and is a multiple covering when . Trivial holonomy therefore does not imply a global Euclidean chart. The slope is a discrete parameter, not an unrestricted real one.
Fundamental form of a Hermitian manifold Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-07
For the underlying Riemannian metric and complex structure , the fundamental form is . It is a real (1, 1)-form. In complex dimension , the compatible orientation has Riemannian volume form , and its Hodge star operator satisfies
Fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
A Riemannian metric determines a unique torsion-free connection that is a metric connection. Metric compatibility and the torsion identity imply the Koszul formula, which proves uniqueness. Conversely the right-hand side of the Koszul formula is a smooth one-form in its last vector-field argument. The musical isomorphism defines from it; expanding the Lie bracket of vector fields verifies the connection rules, metric compatibility and zero torsion. Thus it constructs the Levi-Civita connection intrinsically.
Geodesic metric space Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-05
A metric space in which every two points are joined by a metric geodesic segment. Equivalently, they admit a continuous path whose metric path length equals their distance. In this general setting no Riemannian metric or covariant derivative is required.
Harmonic coordinate Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A harmonic coordinate satisfies for a Riemannian metric, or for a Lorentzian metric. Equivalently or . This common coordinate condition applies in both Riemannian geometry and general relativity.
On a closed manifold with a Riemannian metric, a smooth solution of for the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator satisfies the displayed identity by integration by parts. Zero initial data force the solution to vanish, proving uniqueness and the semigroup property for heat evolution.
On a closed manifold with a Riemannian metric, the minimum of a smooth heat solution cannot fall below its initial minimum. At a spatial minimum, for the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator. Adding a small increasing function of time and considering the first crossing gives the assertion. Applying the result to nonnegative initial functions shows that the Riemannian heat kernel is nonnegative.
For , the Kaluza-Klein decomposition along a Killing field has , and . For a Riemannian metric, positive constants make the fibre norm and quotient metric positive everywhere.