A smooth vector field is a smooth section of a vector bundle of the tangent bundle, so . In a manifold chart, with smooth coefficients. It acts on a smooth function by . For a diffeomorphism , the pushforward of a vector field is
The Lie bracket of vector fields is the commutator of their actions on smooth functions:
The second derivatives of cancel, so this is again a vector field. The corresponding Jacobi identity is .
A local flow of is a smooth map on an open neighbourhood of satisfying and . On a sufficiently small neighbourhood and time interval, each is a diffeomorphism onto its image, with inverse . Uniqueness of integral curves of a vector field gives wherever both sides are defined. These are local statements; no assumption of a complete vector field is required.
A smooth tensor field of type is a smooth section of , where the factors are the tangent bundle and cotangent bundle. The flow definition of the Lie derivative of a tensor field is
Here pullback applies to each vector factor and the dual of to each covector factor, evaluating at . Thus all tensors being differentiated lie in the same fibre over .
For a smooth function, , and the chain rule gives
For a vector field , in local coordinates the expansions and give
Consequently
Pullback preserves tensor products and tensor contractions, so differentiation makes this definition a tensor derivation. It therefore agrees on every tensor field with the Lie derivative of a tensor field determined by these two formulas.
Now put . The chain rule gives
Thus is the local flow of . In the case , if , uniqueness of integral curves of a vector field makes on their common domains, or . Conversely, differentiating this commuting identity at zero gives , hence . This proves that diffeomorphism invariance of a vector field is equivalent to commuting with its local flow, with every identity understood on the domain where its compositions exist.
A smooth vector field along a map is a smooth section of the pullback tangent bundle : it assigns , with smooth coefficients in each local frame. It need not be the restriction of one ambient vector field, since a curve may return to the same point with different values of .
An affine connection, also called a Koszul connection, induces a pullback connection on this bundle. In coordinates, write and . Its covariant derivative along a curve is
The connection transformation law, or the Leibniz rule applied to a change of frame, makes this expression independent of the frame. In particular it is defined even when ; it differentiates the section's coefficients as well as the frame.
The field is parallel precisely when . In a frame along a coordinate segment this is the linear ordinary differential equation
The Picard-Lindelof theorem gives a unique solution with prescribed initial value. Smooth coefficients on compact subintervals are bounded, and the usual norm estimate for a linear ordinary differential equation prevents finite-time blowup there. A finite sequence of coordinate segments covers the image of the compact interval ; solve successively and use uniqueness on overlaps. This gives a unique parallel field on the whole interval for every .
Define parallel transport by . Linearity of the equation and uniqueness give . Solving along the reversed curve supplies its inverse. Therefore each is a linear isomorphism.
For two affine connections, put . Their rules give
since the two terms cancel. The tensoriality of this operation proves that the difference of affine connections is a tensor, of type , with smooth coordinate coefficients .
A parametrized geodesic satisfies , or the geodesic equation
With , this becomes the first-order system , . Its right side is smooth, so the Picard-Lindelof theorem gives a unique local solution for each initial point and tangent vector. This establishes uniqueness with the parametrization fixed.
The two accelerations differ by
If for every tangent vector, either acceleration vanishes exactly when the other does. Conversely, start the -geodesic with arbitrary initial vector at an arbitrary point. If it is also a -geodesic with the same parameter, evaluating this identity initially gives . Hence
Polarization makes the latter condition equivalent to : parametrized geodesics determine the symmetric part of an affine connection. In particular torsion-free connections are determined by their parametrized geodesics, since their difference is also symmetric and must then vanish.
Let be the inclusion. The restriction of a connection to an embedded submanifold is the pullback connection on . Concretely, for a tangent vector field on and a local section of , extend smoothly off and define by differentiating the extension in direction . Two extensions differ by a field whose coefficients vanish on . Their derivatives along every tangent curve in vanish too, and the connection's coefficient terms are multiplied by the zero field. The answer is therefore independent of the extension. Dependence only on the value of the first argument follows from the connection's linearity over smooth functions.
The induced Riemannian metric is positive definite, so the fibrewise orthogonal projection is smooth. For tangent fields define the projected ambient connection . It is real-linear and satisfies
because . Thus is a Koszul connection on .
The Levi-Civita connection is characterized by the torsion-free connection and metric connection conditions
These determine it uniquely. For the ambient Levi-Civita connection, the Gauss formula is , with
Linearity over smooth functions in is immediate. In , the additional term is tangent and is killed by . Thus tensoriality makes a bilinear map into the normal bundle. Its antisymmetric part is
because the Lie bracket of vector fields tangent to is tangent. This proves the symmetry of the second fundamental form in an arbitrary Riemannian ambient manifold.
Write the curvature operators as and with in place of . To match the four-slot notation in the requested identity, use
This convention is stated because permuting the slots can change the displayed signs.
If is a normal field and is tangent, metric compatibility applied to gives the tangential derivative of a normal field identity
Using the Gauss formula and this identity,
Here the normal part of pairs to zero with . Interchange and subtract; the bracket term obeys . It follows that
Rearranging proves the Gauss equation in a curved ambient manifold:
All expressions are tensorial, so choosing local extensions of the four tangent vectors proves the pointwise identity at . With flat Euclidean ambient space, and this reduces to the usual Gauss equation.
Along the downward gradient flow, the gradient-flow dissipation identity, the chain rule and the defining property of the Riemannian gradient give
A smooth vector field on a compact manifold is complete, so the trajectory exists for every . In particular, its function value never increases.
If the trajectory is still in at time , its monotone function value has stayed in throughout . Consequently
Thus a uniform exit bound is
The trajectory is outside the closed band for every . Once it leaves below level , monotonicity prevents its return. The argument also covers the zero-width band .
For the total occupation-time bound for a gradient flow, let and , which exist by compactness. For every , the same gradient flow identity gives
Taking , by monotone convergence theorem, gives the total occupation-time bound
This allows arbitrarily many visits to ; it bounds their total duration. Neither of these two estimates needs the Morse function hypothesis.
For exponential convergence of a Morse gradient flow, first observe that a limiting point is a critical point. Indeed, writing for the flow and using continuous dependence on initial data,
Differentiation at gives .
We use the Morse lemma: near a nondegenerate critical point of Morse index , there are coordinates in which
Choose a Riemannian metric equal to the Euclidean metric on a smaller ball in these coordinates. Such a global Riemannian metric exists by a partition of unity: patch this metric to any background metric outside a slightly larger ball. One can do this simultaneously at every critical point, since a Morse function on a compact manifold has only finitely many critical points. The metric is chosen before forming its gradient flow; changing the metric can change trajectories.
For this metric, any trajectory converging to eventually remains in the smaller coordinate ball. From some time onward its equations are exactly
Convergence forces , and then
The straight radial segment stays in the coordinate ball, so its length bounds the Riemannian distance from above:
Increase beyond both and . Then the requested strict estimate holds for all :
This proof uses the Morse lemma, existence and uniqueness for smooth ordinary differential equations, continuous dependence on initial data, and the existence of a partition of unity. The expanding coordinates explain why convergence to a saddle occurs only along its stable manifold.
For a counterexample, use an arc coordinate around a point of the circle, its flat local metric, and a globally smooth function that equals on this arc. Such a function can be made by a smooth cutoff, agreeing with a positive constant outside a larger arc. For sufficiently small the downward gradient flow remains in the arc and is
It converges to the degenerate critical point , and its Riemannian distance from is for sufficiently large . For every , , so no exponential bound is possible. This counterexample is on a compact manifold as well.
Figure 1.
Exponential decay near a Morse minimum and algebraic decay near a degenerate quartic minimum, on a logarithmic vertical scale
.
Use the Riemann curvature tensor convention . A Jacobi field is a smooth vector field along satisfying
where is the covariant derivative along a curve for the Levi-Civita connection. Differentiating a geodesic variation gives this equation, and conversely every Jacobi field arises from a geodesic variation by varying its initial point and velocity.
Choose a parallel frame along and write . The Jacobi equation becomes the linear system
The existence and uniqueness theorem for linear ordinary differential equations says that each pair determines exactly one solution on . Addition and scalar multiplication preserve the equation. Thus evaluation of initial position and covariant velocity is a linear isomorphism
and the dimension is
For the convexity assertion, use the convex-normal meaning of a geodesically convex open set: its points are joined by a unique geodesic within the set, and the joining geodesic depends smoothly on its endpoints. Equivalently, the appropriate star-shaped restriction of is a diffeomorphism onto the set. The convex-normal-neighbourhood theorem supplies such sets around every point. Mere existence of some minimizing geodesic, without this uniqueness and normality, would not imply the assertion.
Let and . For a Jacobi field with and , differentiating gives the standard differential-of-the-exponential map identity
In a convex normal neighbourhood, is invertible. Therefore a Jacobi field vanishing at both endpoints has and hence is identically zero. The difference of two fields with the same endpoint values consequently vanishes. More precisely, the map
is an isomorphism: it is injective and both spaces have dimension . The constant-geodesic case follows directly from . This uses the convex-normal-neighbourhood theorem, the differential-of-the-exponential map identity, and linear ordinary differential equation uniqueness.
For the special unitary group example, use Jacobi fields from conjugation at a central endpoint. Write
The endpoints of are and . The latter is central. For every consider
Conjugation is an isometry for a bi-invariant Riemannian metric, and geodesics of a bi-invariant metric are one-parameter subgroups. Thus is a geodesic variation. Its Jacobi field is
which vanishes at and because both endpoints are central. Its initial covariant derivative is .
The linear map has kernel equal to the centralizer of an element of a Lie algebra of . Indeed, implies on differentiating at , and that commutation conversely implies . The repeated first two eigenvalues give
As , rank-nullity theorem gives
Explicit independent generators are the fields belonging to , , and . Their initial derivatives are independent because the eigenvalue differences in the and entries are . This also demonstrates directly why the endpoint-value conclusion fails along this geodesic.
On smooth functions, the Lie derivative of a function satisfies
On an arbitrary vector field , the Lie derivative of a vector field gives
The middle equality follows from the Jacobi identity for the Lie bracket of vector fields. One can verify that identity without assuming the result being proved: view vector fields as derivations acting on smooth functions, expand their commutators, and cancel the six compositions. Equality as derivations implies equality as vector fields.
For the second identity, let be any operators on either smooth functions or vector fields. Associativity of composition gives
Each term cancels in the sum. Applying this to , , proves both requested identities on both kinds of arguments:
The commutator identity for Lie derivatives expresses that the Lie derivative of a tensor field represents the Lie bracket of vector fields.
Use as an affine parameter on each member of the geodesic variation, so . The parameter directions commute, giving along the variation. The torsion-free connection then gives
Consequently the covariant derivative and curvature definition give
This is the geodesic-deviation equation with the stated curvature sign:
The component expression defines the slot order: is the vector acted on, and are the two derivative directions of the Riemann curvature tensor. Both the commuting parameter directions and affine parametrization are essential; a general connecting vector field or a nonaffine parameter would add terms.
The real vector space of symmetric matrices has dimension . On its invertible part the derivative of the determinant is
At a determinant-one symmetric matrix, this derivative is nonzero: the symmetric direction gives value . The regular level set theorem therefore yields
This applies to every signature component, not only positive-definite matrices.
The special linear congruence action on symmetric matrices preserves symmetry because , and preserves determinant because . The identity acts trivially and
These verify a smooth left Lie group action of the special linear group. By Sylvester's law of inertia, it also preserves the numbers of positive and negative eigenvalues.
For , parametrize the symmetric matrices by
Thus is exactly the two-sheeted hyperboloid
The two sheets consist respectively of positive-definite and negative-definite matrices. Each is preserved by the special linear congruence action on symmetric matrices. They are individually transitive: on the positive sheet with and ; on the negative sheet use . The stabilizer of either or is .
Differentiating the left Lie group action along gives the fundamental vector field
For the three matrices in the question, their coordinate components are
A sign convention matters here. With the usual Lie bracket of vector fields , the fundamental fields of this left action obey . Indeed, for linear coordinate fields , the bracket has coefficient . To obtain a Lie algebra representation rather than an anti-representation, use the infinitesimal left-action sign convention
An explicit answer is therefore
These are tangent to the two-sheeted hyperboloid: applying each to gives zero. For example,
They can be written on either sheet using :
Here the omitted component is determined by tangency, and derivatives of must be included when computing brackets in these coordinates.
Direct matrix multiplication gives
Direct differentiation of the displayed vector fields gives exactly
For instance, in ambient coordinates, . These are the defining relations of the sl2 Lie algebra. The three fields are linearly independent over constant real coefficients: if vanishes on a sheet, its coefficient forces , and its coefficient then equals , forcing . Thus the representation is faithful. Their pointwise span need only have dimension two, consistent with the dimension of each sheet.
Let and choose an orientation of a regular curve following the vector field. Its unit tangent vector is , where is constant along a connected regular segment. Arc length differentiation along that curve is . Therefore
Taking the cross product with removes the term parallel to :
Where the Frenet frame exists, . Thus
The printed sign corresponds to orientation along or against the field. Taking magnitudes gives the orientation-independent curvature of an integral curve of a vector field, . This scalar formula also applies at zero curvature, where itself may be undefined.
The directional derivative along the specified vector field gives
Use the magnitude formula for the curvature of an integral curve of a vector field:
It vanishes on the plane and on the axis away from the origin, consistent with straight field lines there. At the origin the vector field vanishes, so it fails the nowhere-zero hypothesis and this field-line curvature is not defined.
As an independent geometric check, an integral curve of a vector field satisfies , , , giving . Its velocity is and acceleration ; the ordinary curvature of a space curve formula gives the same expression.
Assume is continuously differentiable. Apply the chain rule to each component with :
Contracting the first identity with proves
Here differentiates with respect to at fixed , while the time derivative holds fixed. The equality follows directly even at ; no division by is needed. It holds componentwise for the vector field, so it is not restricted to scalar functions.
For a decomposable tensor field, consider a selected pairing in a tensor contraction. Its derivative is
by the defining one-form formula. In the Leibniz rule expansion of the uncontracted tensor, the terms differentiating these two selected factors combine into exactly this derivative of the pairing. Every term differentiating another factor passes unchanged through the contraction. Thus, first on local decomposable tensors and then by linearity on every local tensor expansion,
This is basis independent; in components the negative covector term and positive vector term for the two contracted slots cancel.
For uniqueness, any extension satisfying the tensor-product rule is local. If vanishes near , multiply it by a smooth cutoff function equal to one near and supported where . The identity implies . Any allowed extension on a differential one-form is forced by differentiating its contraction with every vector field. Its value on every local frame tensor is then forced by the tensor-product rule and its value on scalar coefficients. These local tensors span each tensor bundle, so two extensions agree everywhere.
Together with the preceding construction, this proves existence and uniqueness of the contraction-compatible tensor derivation, with the scalar-rule qualification already stated. No claim that every global tensor field is a finite sum of products of global vector fields is needed.
First establish the scalar Leibniz rule, since it is needed for an extension to all tensor fields. Suppose every component of has positive dimension. Computing first with scalar and then as gives
At any point, a smooth cutoff function times a coordinate vector field can be chosen nonzero there. Evaluating the displayed identity proves
Thus the scalar operator is a derivation of an algebra. Derivations of smooth functions are vector fields, so the scalar operator is differentiation along a unique vector field ; no continuity assumption is needed. Indeed, if vanishes near , take a smooth cutoff function equal to one near and supported where . The identity gives . Thus depends only on the local function germ, so local coordinate functions may be extended with cutoffs before applying it. The local identity gives . Smooth local coefficients define .
The vector-field operator is local as well. If vanishes near , choose a cutoff equal to one near with support where . Then gives . We can therefore work with local frames without presuming a global frame.
For a differential one-form , the only possible contraction-compatible definition is
The scalar product rule and the given vector-field rule show that this is linear over in , so it defines a one-form. Its coefficients are smooth by evaluating the formula on local frame fields extended with cutoffs. It is real-linear in , and direct substitution gives .
The original PDF's hint has a transpose error. If for , then evaluation on every forces
not the untransposed coefficient array printed in the hint. For example, take , and on . The correct values are , . The printed hint instead makes the derivative of equal to .
There is also a genuine zero-dimensional edge case in the hypotheses: on a one-point manifold the vector-field space is zero, so the printed rule imposes no condition on the scalar map. Taking satisfies that rule but cannot extend to a tensor derivation, since the product rule requires . Thus the extension theorem is valid on positive-dimensional manifolds as above, or in every dimension if the scalar product rule is added explicitly. The next two parts use these precise hypotheses.