The Tangent Bundle TM of a Manifold M Is (As a Set) G TM = Tam
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1. The tangent bundle Definition 1.1 (provisional). The tangent bundle TM of a manifold M is (as a set) G TM = TaM: a2M Note that there is a natural projection (the tangent bundle projection) π : TM ! M which sends a tangent vector v 2 TaM to the corresponding point a of M. We want to show that the tangent bundle TM itself is a manifold in a natural way and the projection map π : TM ! M is smooth. Strictly speaking, we first should specify a topology on TM. However, our strategy will be different. We will first find candidates for coordinate charts on the tangent bundle TM. They will be constructed out of coordinate charts on M. We will check that the change of these candidate coordinates on TM is smooth. One then can use these candidate coordinates to manufacture a topology on TM, an issue that we will ignore. n Remark 1.2 (Comment on notation). On R we have n real valued smooth coordinate functions r1; : : : ; rn; n rj assigns to a point a = (a1; : : : ; an) its jth coordinate: rj(a1; : : : ; an) = aj. If F : X ! R is any function then F cooresponds to an n-tuple of real-valued functions on X: F (x) = (F1(x);:::;Fn(x); where Fj(x) is the jth coordinate of F (x). Thus Fj(x) = rj(F (x)) = (rj ◦F )(x) and consequently Fj = rj ◦F . n Similarly, but not entirely consistatntly, we say \' = (x1; : : : xn): U ! R is a coordinate chart on a manifold M" to mean that xj(m) = rj('(m)) for m 2 U ⊂ M. Thus xj = rj ◦ '. n Let φ = (x1; ··· ; xn): U ! R be a coordinate chart on M. Out of it we construct a chart on TU = F a2U TaM ⊂ TM. The first n functions come for free: we take the functions x1 ◦ π; : : : ; xn ◦ π. Another set of n functions come for free also: given a vector v 2 TaU, X @ v = (dxi)a(v) ja: @xi Hence, abusing the notation a bit, we get maps dxi : TU ! R;TU 3 v 7! (dxi)a(v); where a = π(v): Thus we define a candidate coordinate chart ~ n n φ := (x1 ◦ π; ··· ; xn ◦ π; dx1; ··· ; dxn): TU ! R × R by ~ φ(v) = (x1(π(v)); : : : ; xn(π(v)); (dx1)π(v)(v);:::; (dxn)π(v)(v)): ~ If fUα; φα)g is an atlas on M, we get a candidate atlas f(TUα; φα)g on TM. To see why this could possibly be an atlas, we need to check that the change of coordinates in this new purported atlas is smooth. To this end pick two coordinate charts (U; φ = (x1; ··· ; xn)) and (V; = (y1; ··· ; yn)) on M with U \ V 6= ;. Then T (U \ V ) = TU \ TV 6= ;. Let ~ n n φ = (x1; ··· ; xn; dx1; ··· ; dxn): TU ! R × R and ~ n n = (y1; ··· ; yn; dy1; ··· ; dyn): TV ! R × R be the corresponding candidates charts on TM. Now let us compute the change of coordinates ~ ◦ φ~−1. First, note that ~−1 X @ φ (r1; ··· ; rn; u1; ··· ; un) = ui 2 Tφ−1(r ;··· ;r )M: @x φ−1(r ;··· ;r ) 1 n i i 1 n So ~ X @ −1 X @ X @ ( ui ) = ( (φ (r1; ··· ; rn)); dy1( ui ); ··· ; dyn( ui )): @x φ−1(r ;··· ;r ) @x @x i 1 n i i i i 1 But X @ X @ X @yj X @ dy ( u ) = u ( (y )) = u = (r ( ◦ φ−1))u : j i @x i @x j @x i @r j i i i i i i i i i Thus the change of the candidate coordinates is given by X @y1 X @yn ~ ◦ φ~−1(r ; ··· ; r ; u ; ··· ; u ) =( ◦ φ−1(r); ( (r)u ;:::; (r)u )) 1 n 1 n @x i @x i i i i i (1.1) 0 u 1 1 −1 @yj . =( ◦ φ (r); (r) B . C ); @xi @ A un ~ ~−1 where r = (r1; : : : rn). Clearly ◦ φ is smooth wherever it is defined. It remains to define a topology on TM so that the charts φ~ : TU ! φ(U) × Rn are homeomorphisms. We declare a subset O ⊂ TM to be open if for any coordinate chart φ : U ! Rn on M, the set φ~(O \ TU) ⊂ Rn × Rn is open. Proposition 1.3. The collection of open sets on TM defined above does indeed form a topology. Moreover, if M is Hausdorff and second countable, so is TM. Proof. We ignore these technicalities and save them for a graduate course in differential topology. We conclude that if M is an n-dimensional then its tangent bundle TM is a 2n-dimensional manifold. n Moreover, each coordinate chart (x1; : : : xn): U ! R on M gives rise to a coordinate chart (x1 ◦ π; : : : xn ◦ 2n π; dx1; : : : ; dxn): TU ! R . Remark 1.4. The following notation is suggestive: we write (m; v) 2 TM for v 2 Tm(M). Strictly speaking, it is redundant since m = π(v). Remark 1.5. It is customary to simply write xi : TU ! R for xi ◦ π : TU ! R. 2. The cotangent bundle As a set, the cotangent bundle T ∗M is the disjoint union of cotangent spaces: ∗ G ∗ T M = Ta M: a2M Note that there is a natural projection (the cotangent bundle projection) π : T ∗M ! M ∗ which sends a cotangent vector (a covector for short) η 2 Ta M to the corresponding point a of M. We make the cotangent bundle T ∗M into a manifold in more or less the same way we made the tangent bundle into a manifold. That is, we manufacture new coordinate charts on T ∗M out of coordinate charts on M and check that the transition maps between the new coordinate charts are smooth. n So let φ = (x1; : : : ; xn): U ! R be a coordinate chart on M. Then for each point a 2 U the covectors ∗ @ ∗ f(dxi)ag form a basis of T M. The partials f jag form the dual basis. Hence for any η 2 T M, a @xi a X @ η = η( ja)(dxi)a: @xi Therefore the partials f @ g give us coordinate functions on T ∗U: @xi @ ∗ n ∗ @ : T U ! R ;T U 3 η 7! η( ja); @xi @xi where a = π(η). We now define the candidate coordinates ∗ n n φ¯ : T U ! R × R by ¯ @ @ φ = (x1 ◦ π; : : : ; xn ◦ π; ;:::; ): @x1 @xn 2 Note that n ¯−1 X ∗ φ (r1; : : : ; rn; w1; : : : ; wn) = wi(dxi)φ−1(r) 2 Tφ−1(r)M; i=1 where again we have abbreviated (r1; : : : ; rn) as r. We now check the transition maps. Let = (y1; : : : ; yn): V ! Rn be a coordinate chart on M with V \ U 6= ;. Then n ¯ ¯−1 ¯ X ◦ φ (r1; : : : ; rn; w1; : : : ; wn) = ( wi(dxi)φ−1(r)) i=1 n n @ X @ X =(( ◦ φ−1)(r); ( w dx );:::; ( w dx )) @y i i @y i i 1 i=1 n i=1 X @xi X @xi =(( ◦ φ−1)(r); w ;:::; w ): i @y i @y i 1 i n We conclude that 0 1 w1 @x ¯ ¯−1 −1 i B . C (2.1) ◦ φ (r1; ··· ; rn; w1; ··· ; wn) = ( ◦ φ (r); (r) . ); @yj @ A wn which is smooth. The rest of the argument proceeds as in the case of the tangent bundle. Remark 2.1. Later on, when we look at the general vector bundles, it will be instructive to compare the formulas for the change of coordinates in the tangent and the cotangent bundles. In particular note that the @y matrices j (r) and @xi (r) are inverse transposes of each other. @xi @yj 3.