Module II
Supplementary Lecture: Differential Forms∗
1 Illustration of the use of differential forms and exterior
calculus: Reformulating vector calculus in R3
Label the points in R3 by cartesian coordinates x, y, z. Since the space is 3-dimensional, we expect
the highest possible rank of a form to be 3. Again we will denote all the 3-vectors by boldfaced
symbols.
• The 0-form basis is made up of a single basis element. It is a one-dimensional space ( 30 = 1).
This is the space of scalars (or scalar fields),
ω(0) = ϕ(x),
for some scalar field ϕ(x).
• The 1-form basis is made up of 3
1
= 3 elements, namely
dx, dy, dz.
A general member of this space is a 1-form,
v(1) = v1 (x) dx + v2 (x) dy + v3 (x) dz
where v1,2,3 (x) are the components.
• The 2-form space is spanned by the 3
2
= 3 basis elements, namely
dx ∧ dy, dy ∧ dz, dz ∧ dx.
A general member of this space is a 2-form,
ω(2) = ω3 (x) dx ∧ dy + ω1 (x) dy ∧ dz + ω2 (x) dz ∧ dx
where ω1,2,3 (x) are the components. These components are written in a bit unusual form,
usually we would write the components of a 2-form as ω12 , but here instead we are using the
notation,
ω12 = 2 ω3 ,
in order for us to relate to the usual three component vector ω = (ω1 , ω2 , ω3 ) in usual vector
calculus in R3 .
∗
Please report typos and errors to
[email protected] /
[email protected].
1
• Finally the 3-form space is spanned by 3
3
= 1 basis element, namely the volume form:
d3 x ≡ dx ∧ dy ∧ dz,
and a general element is of the form,
ω(3) = f (x) d3 x.
• It is important to note that the 1-form, 2-form, 3-form basis elements are also respectively
the line elements, area elements and the volume element! (Check this by verifying that
these indeed transform like line element, area element and volume element with the signed
Jacobian).
• The various wedge products are,
u(1) ∧ v(1) = (u1 dx + u2 dy + u3 dz) ∧ (v1 dx + v2 dy + v3 dz) ,
= (u1 v2 − u2 v1 ) dx ∧ dy + (u2 v3 − u3 v2 ) dy ∧ dz + (u3 v1 − u1 v3 ) dz ∧ dx ,
= ϵijk (u × v)k dxi ∧ dxj .
v(1) ∧ ω(2) = (v1 dx + v2 dy + v3 dz) ∧ (ω1 dy ∧ dz + ω2 dz ∧ dx + ω3 dx ∧ dy) ,
= (v1 ω1 + v2 ω2 + v3 ω3 ) dx ∧ dy ∧ dz ,
= (v · w) d3 x.
• The Hodge ∗ operation on the basis elements work out to be as follows,
1
∗1 = ϵλµν dxλ ∧ dxµ ∧ dxν = dx ∧ dy ∧ dz = d3 x,
3!
1 ∗dx = dy ∧ dz,
∗dxi = ϵi jk dxj ∧ dxj ⇒ ∗dy = dz ∧ dx,
2!
∗dz = dx ∧ dy.
1 ij ∗dx ∧ dy = dz,
i j k
∗ dx ∧ dx = ϵ k dx ⇒ ∗dy ∧ dz = dx,
2!
∗dz ∧ dx = dy.
∗ (dx ∧ dy ∧ dz) = 1.
Using these results we can write,
∗ u(1) ∧ v(1) = u × v,
∗ v(1) ∧ ω(2) = v · w.
• The exterior derivatives of various forms work out to be the elements of line-integrals, flux-
integrals through surfaces and volume integrals via the gradient, curl and divergence opera-
tions in usual vector calculus,
dϕ = ∂i ϕ dxi = ∇ϕ(x) · dx,
2
d v(1) = (∂1 v2 − ∂2 v1 ) dx ∧ dy + (∂2 v3 − ∂3 v2 ) dy ∧ dz + (∂3 v1 − ∂1 v3 ) dz ∧ dx ,
= ϵijk (∇ × v)k dxi ∧ dxj .
dω(2) = (∂1 ω1 + ∂2 ω2 + ∂3 ω3 ) d3 x ,
= ∇ · w d3 x
or, equivalently,
∗dv(1) = (∇ × v) · dx ,
∗dω(2) = ∇ · w.
• The identity, d2 = 0 when applied to 0-forms and 1-forms, gives the two famous vector
calculus identities,
0 = ∗ d2 ϕ = ∗d (∇ϕ(x) · dx) = (∇ × ∇ϕ(x)) · dx ⇒ ∇ × ∇ϕ(x) = 0 ,
0 = ∗ d2 v(1) = ∗d ϵijk (∇ × v)k dxi ∧ dxj = ∇ · (∇ × v) ⇒ ∇ · (∇ × v) = 0.
