Proof. For the previous orthonormal basis, we have
(ˆe
i
, J ˆe
j
) = g( J ˆe
i
, J ˆe
j
) = δ
ij
(ˆe
i
, ˆe
j
) = (J ˆe
i
, J ˆe
j
) = 0.
Then it follows that
∧ ...∧
,
-. /
m
(ˆe
1
, J ˆe
1
,...,ˆe
m
, J ˆe
m
)
=
P
(ˆe
P(1)
, J ˆe
P(1)
)...(ˆe
P(m)
, J ˆe
P(m)
)
= m!(ˆe
1
, J ˆe
1
)...(ˆe
m
, J ˆe
m
) = m!
where P is an element of the permutation group of m objects. This shows that
∧ ...∧ cannot vanish at any point.
Since the real 2m-form ∧...∧ vanishes nowhere, it serves as a volume
element. Thus, we obtain the following theorem.
Theorem 8.3. A complex manifold is orientable.
8.4.3 Covariant derivatives
Let (M, g) be a Hermitian manifold. We define a connection which is compatible
with the complex structure. It is natural to assume that a holomorphic vector
V ∈ T
p
M
+
parallel transported to another point q is, again, a holomorphic vector
˜
V (q) ∈ T
q
M
+
. We show later that the almost complex structure is covariantly
conserved under this requirement. Let {z
µ
} and {z
µ
+z
µ
} be the coordinates of
p and q, respectively, and let V = V
µ
∂/∂z
µ
|
p
and
˜
V (q) =
˜
V
µ
(z +z)∂/∂z
µ
|
q
.
We assume that (cf (7.9))
˜
V
µ
(z + z) = V
µ
(z) − V
λ
(z)
µ
νλ
(z)z
ν
. (8.61)
Then the basis vectors satisfy (cf (7.14))
∇
µ
∂
∂z
ν
=
λ
µν
(z)
∂
∂z
λ
. (8.62a)
Since ∂/∂
z
µ
is a conjugate vector field of ∂/∂z
µ
,wehave
∇
µ
∂
∂z
ν
=
λ
µ ν
∂
∂z
λ
(8.62b)
where
λ
µ ν
=
λ
µν
.
λ
µν
and
λ
µ ν
are the only non-vanishing components of
the connection coefficients. Note that ∇
µ
∂/∂z
ν
=∇
µ
∂/∂z
ν
= 0. For the dual
basis, non-vanishing covariant derivatives are
∇
µ
dz
ν
=−
ν
µλ
dz
λ
∇
µ
dz
ν
=−
ν
µλ
z
λ
. (8.63)