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Let M be a smooth manifold. A (smooth) singular k-simplex in M is defined as a smooth map from the standard simplex in R k to M. The group C k (M, Z) of singular k-chains on M is defined to be the free abelian group on the set of singular k-simplices in M. These groups, together with the boundary map, ∂, define a chain complex.
An illustration of Stokes' theorem, with surface Σ, its boundary ∂Σ and the normal vector n.The direction of positive circulation of the bounding contour ∂Σ, and the direction n of positive flux through the surface Σ, are related by a right-hand-rule (i.e., the right hand the fingers circulate along ∂Σ and the thumb is directed along n).
In particular, if is a smooth manifold and is a smooth vector field, one is interested in finding integral curves to . More precisely, given p ∈ M {\displaystyle p\in M} one is interested in curves γ p : R → M {\displaystyle \gamma _{p}:\mathbb {R} \to M} such that:
Vector field corresponding to a differential form on the punctured plane that is closed but not exact, showing that the de Rham cohomology of this space is non-trivial.. In mathematics, de Rham cohomology (named after Georges de Rham) is a tool belonging both to algebraic topology and to differential topology, capable of expressing basic topological information about smooth manifolds in a form ...
In mathematics, differential topology is the field dealing with the topological properties and smooth properties [a] of smooth manifolds.In this sense differential topology is distinct from the closely related field of differential geometry, which concerns the geometric properties of smooth manifolds, including notions of size, distance, and rigid shape.
Symplectic manifolds arise from classical mechanics; in particular, they are a generalization of the phase space of a closed system. [1] In the same way the Hamilton equations allow one to derive the time evolution of a system from a set of differential equations, the symplectic form should allow one to obtain a vector field describing the flow of the system from the differential of a ...
In the theory of smooth manifolds, a congruence is the set of integral curves defined by a nonvanishing vector field defined on the manifold. Congruences are an important concept in general relativity , and are also important in parts of Riemannian geometry .
Conversely, given any contact manifold M, the product M×R has a natural structure of a symplectic manifold. If α is a contact form on M, then ω = d(e t α) is a symplectic form on M×R, where t denotes the variable in the R-direction. This new manifold is called the symplectization (sometimes symplectification in the literature) of the ...