homeomorphism from U
a
to U
a
R
n
and that the transition functions w
ba
between charts are smooth. Linear coordinates in U
a
for instance do not have any
preference any more since in general M is not a vector space and hence linear
relations between its points are not defined any more. Within the complete atlas
(differentiable structure) of M there is a huge arbitrariness not only of choosing the
coordinates of a point x 2 M but also of choosing the neighborhood U
a
of x in
which those coordinates are defined. Since an arbitrarily small neighborhood
suffices for considerations of the tangent space, the local behavior of a function is
introduced by the concept of a germ of function. Consider a point x
0
2 M and the
family C
a
x
0
of smooth real-valued functions F
a
defined in some neighborhood of
u
a
ðx
0
Þ2U
a
¼ u
a
ðU
a
Þ for some chart for M containing the point x
0
(coordinate
neighborhood of x
0
). Since the composition of smooth functions F
a
w
ab
¼ F
b
is
smooth, F
a
defines a smooth function F
b
in some neighborhood of u
b
ðx
0
Þ2U
b
for
every local coordinate system ðU
b
; u
b
Þ centered at x
0
. In other words, C
a
x
0
may be
considered as the family of all smooth real-valued functions on any local coor-
dinate system of M centered at x
0
, and apart from their smoothness which is only
defined in connection with a local coordinate system, each of the functions F
a
of
C
a
x
0
together with a local coordinate system defines a function F ¼ F
a
u
a
on a
neighborhood of x
0
2 M. This allows for the introduction of the family C
x
0
of all
real-valued functions F defined in some neighborhood of x
0
2 M and smoothly
depending on the coordinates of any local coordinate system of M centered at x
0
.
Two functions F; G 2C
x
0
are considered equivalent, F ’G, if there exists a
neighborhood U of x
0
so that F|
U
= G|
U
. (Note that two non-identical smooth real
functions still may coincide on some domain; smoothness is less than analyticity,
where functions are uniquely continued from any open domain.) Given any local
coordinate system of M centered at x
0
,ifF ’G, then obviously oF
a
=ox
i
a
j
x¼0
¼
oG
a
=ox
i
a
j
x¼0
where without loss of generality the coordinates x of x
0
are put to
zero. This is always done in what follows. An equivalence class [F] of a function
F 2C
x
0
is called a germ at x
0
on M. The set of germs at x
0
on M is denoted by
F
x
0
¼C
x
0
= ’¼f½FjF 2C
x
0
gð3:3Þ
(quotient set with respect to the equivalence relation ^ in C
x
0
). Why is the concept
of germs needed instead of simply considering the family of functions defined on
some (fixed) neighborhood of x
0
? The point is that in order to decide which
functions are admissible in C
x
0
; local coordinate systems have to be used and their
domain of definition cannot be fixed, it depends on the used charts and can in
particular become arbitrarily small. Note also that the same function F 2C
x
0
corresponds to infinitely many different functions F
a
2C
a
x
0
; F
a
¼ F
a
ðx
1
a
; ...; x
n
a
Þ for
different local coordinate systems.
Next, the family of (smooth) parametrized curves x(t), t 2 ]a, b[inM passing
through x
0
is considered (Fig. 3.4). Again without loss of generality it is assumed
that t = 0 is an inner point of the interval ]a, b[ and x(0) = x
0
. This time
smoothness is to be considered with respect to local coordinate systems of the
62 3 Manifolds