=
:Ec;
••• ; >
sign(i
1
,
••
,ir)(auCX;m»···Ca;p(X;q)).
For
instance,
if
r =
2,
a,
p e A
1
(M),
X, Y E X(M)
then
I
a
ex>
P
ex>
I
(aAP>
(X,
Y)
=a
(Y)
p
(Y)
In
general,
if
a
is
a
p-form,
P
is
a
q-form
on
M,
and
x
1
,
••
,x~q
e
X(M),
then
(a
A
P)
(X
1
,
••
,X~q)
=
:Ec;
.•.
; >
sign(i
1
••
i~q)
a(X;
,
•.
,X;
) PCX; ,
••
X;
) .
We
shall
denote
AP(M*)
to
be
the
collection
of
all
p-forms
on
M.
When
there
is
no
danger
of
ambiguity,
we
usually
will
denote
it
by
AP.
We
shall
now
introduce
a
derivative
called
an
exterior
derivative.
Let
M
be
~.
The
exterior
derivative
is
a
map:
d:
A~
A
with
the
following
properties:
(i)
For
q = o, f
is
a
~
function,
then
df
is
a
1-form;
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
d
is
a
linear
map
such
that
d(Aq) c
A~
1
;
For
a E Aq,
{3
E A
8
d(a
A
P)
=
da
A
13
+
(-1)qa
A
dp;
d(df)
= 0
and
it
follows
that
d(da)
= 0
for
any
a.
Any
form
a
is
said
to
be
closed
if
da
= O;
if
a
is
a
p-form
and
there
is
a
(p-1)-form
p
such
that
a =
dp,
then
we
call
a
an
exact
p-form.
From
(iv)
above,
clearly
every
exact
p-form
is
also
closed.
Let
us
denote
AeP
be
the
space
of
exact
p-forms,
A/
be
the
space
of
closed
p-forms.
Clearly,
AeP
c
A/
c
AP.
oP(M) =
A//A/
is
called
the
p-dimensional
de
Rham
cohomology
group
of
M
obtained
by
using
differential
forms.
Clearly
oP
is
an
abelian
group
because
AeP
and
A/
are
themselves
abelian.
Theorem
2.8.1
Cde Rhaml
For
a
paracompact
and
T
2
differentiable
manifold
M,
DP(M)
~
HP(M,R).
Remark:
Thus
1)1'
is
a
topological
invariant.
It
also
follows
immediately
that
from
properties
(iii)
and
(iv)
94