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    Chap8 Lie Brackets

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    1) The Lie bracket [u,v] of two vector fields u and v is defined as the commutator uv - vu. 2) The Lie bracket is antisymmetric and satisfies the Jacobi identity. 3) For a set of vector fields to form a coordinate system, their Lie brackets must vanish, meaning they must commute with one another. Their integral curves then define the coordinate lines.

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    Chap8 Lie Brackets

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    hammoudeh13
    71 views3 pages
    1) The Lie bracket [u,v] of two vector fields u and v is defined as the commutator uv - vu. 2) The Lie bracket is antisymmetric and satisfies the Jacobi identity. 3) For a set of vector fields to form a coordinate system, their Lie brackets must vanish, meaning they must commute with one another. Their integral curves then define the coordinate lines.

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    1) The Lie bracket [u,v] of two vector fields u and v is defined as the commutator uv - vu. 2) The Lie bracket is antisymmetric and satisfies the Jacobi identity. 3) For a set of vector fields to form a coordinate system, their Lie brackets must vanish, meaning they must commute with one another. Their integral curves then define the coordinate lines.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    71 views3 pages

    Chap8 Lie Brackets

    Uploaded by

    hammoudeh13
    1) The Lie bracket [u,v] of two vector fields u and v is defined as the commutator uv - vu. 2) The Lie bracket is antisymmetric and satisfies the Jacobi identity. 3) For a set of vector fields to form a coordinate system, their Lie brackets must vanish, meaning they must commute with one another. Their integral curves then define the coordinate lines.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 3

    c Amitabha Lahiri: Lecture Notes on Differential Geometry for Physicists 2011

    Chapter 8

    Lie brackets
    A vector field v is a linear map C (M) C (M) since it is basically a derivation at each point, v : f 7 v(f ) . In other words, given
    a smooth function f , v(f ) is a smooth function on M . Suppose we
    consider two vector fields u , v . Then u(v(f )) is also a smooth function, linear in f . But is uv u v a vector field? To find out, we
    consider
    u(v(f g)) = u(f v(g) + v(f )g)
    = u(f )v(g) + f u(v(g)) + u(v(f ))g + v(f )u(g) . (8.1)
    We reorder the terms to write this as
    uv(f g) = f uv(g) + uv(f )g + u(f )v(g) + v(f )u(g) ,

    (8.2)

    so Leibniz rule is not satisfied by uv . But if we also consider the


    combination vu , we get
    vu(f g) = f (vu(g) + vu(f )g + v(f )u(g) + u(f )v(g) .

    (8.3)

    Thus
    (uv vu)(f g) = f (uv vu)(g) + (uv vu)(f )g ,

    (8.4)

    which means that the combination


    [u , v] := uv vu

    (8.5)

    is a vector field on M , with the product uv signifying successive


    operation on any smooth function on M .
    28

    c Amitabha Lahiri: Lecture Notes on Differential Geometry for Physicists 2011


    29

    This combination is called the commutator or Lie bracket of


    the vector fields u and v .
    2
    In any chart around the point P M , we can write a vector
    field in local coordinates
    v(f ) = v i

    f
    ,
    xi

    (8.6)

    so that
    
    

    i f
    u(v(f )) = u
    v
    xj
    xi
    v i f
    2f
    = uj j i + uj v i j i ,
    x x
    x x
    i
    u f
    2f
    v(u(f )) = v j j i + uj v i j i .
    x x
    x x
    j

    (8.7)

    Subtracting, we get
    u(v(f )) v(u(f )) = uj

    i
    v i f
    j u f

    v
    ,
    xj xi
    xj xi

    (8.8)

    from which we can read off the components of the commutator,


    [u , v]i = uj

    i
    v i
    j u

    v
    xj
    xj

    (8.9)

    The commutator is antisymmetric, [u , v] = [v , u] , and satisfies


    the Jacobi identity
    [[u , v] , w] + [[v , w] , u] + [[w , u] , v] = 0 .

    (8.10)

    The commutator is
     useful
     for the following reason: Once we have a

    chart, we can use


    as a basis for vector fields in a neighbourxi
    hood.
    Any set of n linearly independent vector fields may be chosen as
    a basis, but they need not form a coordinate system. In a coordinate
    system,
    
    

    ,
    = 0,
    (8.11)
    xi xj
    because partial derivatives commute. So n vector fields will form a
    coordinate system only if they commute, i.e., have vanishing commutators with one another. Then the coordinate lines are the integral

    c Amitabha Lahiri: Lecture Notes on Differential Geometry for Physicists 2011


    30

    Chapter 8. Lie brackets

    curves of the vector fields. For analytic manifolds, this condition is


    sufficient as well.
    A simple example is the polar coordinate system in R2 . The unit
    vectors are
    er = ex cos + ey sin
    e = ex sin + ey cos ,

    (8.12)

    and ey =
    being the Cartesian coordinate basis
    x
    y
    vectors, and
    p
    x
    y
    cos = ,
    sin = ,
    r = x2 + y 2
    (8.13)
    r
    r
    with ex =

    Using these expressions, it is easy to show that [er , e ] 6= 0 , so


    {er , e } do not form a coordinate basis.

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