2

2.1

Lecture 2 (Notes: A. Rita)

Comments on previous lecture

(0) The Poincare lemma implies that the sequence

d

. . . C (k1 T ) C (k T ) C (
k+1 T ) . . .
is an exact sequence of sheaves, even though it is not an exact sequence of vector spaces.

(1) We dened the Lie derivative of a vector eld X to be LX = [X , d]. Since X Der1 (. (M )) and
d Der+1 (. (M )), we have
[X , d] = X d (1)(1)(1) dX = X d + dX
(2) : V V , = If is an isomorphism, then for any X V we have (X, X) = 0, so that
X X = Ker (X) = 1 Ann X

Thus, we have an isomorphism : X / X Ann X/ X and

Ann X
X
X
=
=

X
(X )
X
Then using induction, we can prove that V must be even dimensional.

2.2

Symplectic Manifolds

(continues the previous lecture)

For a manifold M , consider its cotangent bundle T M equipped with the 2-form = d,
wherei
1
n
1 (T M )is such
that

(v)
=
(
(v)).
In
coordinates
(x
,
.
.
.
,
x
,
a
,
.
.
.
,
a
),
we
have

1
n
i ai dx and

therefore d = i dai dxi , as in the Darboux theorem. Thus, T M is symplectic.

Denition 6. A subspace W of a symplectic 2ndimensional vector space (V, ) is called isotropic if |W =
0.
W is called coisotropic if its -perpendicular subspace W is isotropic.
W is called Lagrangian if it is both isotropic and coisotropic.

Continued on next page...

There exist isotropic subspaces of any dimension 0, 1, . . . , n, and coisotropic subspaces of any dimension
n, n + 1, . . . , 2n. Hence, Lagragian subspaces must be of dimension n.
We have analogous denitions for submanifolds of a symplectic manifold (M, ):
f

Denition 7. L (M, ) is called isotropic if f = 0. When dim(L) = n it is called Lagrangian.

The graph of 0 C (M, T M ), which is the zero section of T M , is Lagrangian.
More generally, , the graph of C (M, T M ) is a Lagrangian submanifold of T M if and only if
d = 0. It is in this sense that we say that Lagrangian submanifolds of T M are like generalized functions:
f C (M ) gives rise to df , which is a closed 1form, so df T M is Lagrangian.
Proposition 1. Suppose we have a dieomorphism between two symplectic manifolds, : (M0 , 0 )
(M1 , 1 ) and let i : M0 M1 Mi , i = 0, 1 be the projection maps.
Then, Graph() (M0 M1 , 0 0 1 1 ) is Lagrangian if and only if is a symplectomorphism.

2.3

Poisson geometry

Denition 8. A Poisson structure on a manifold M is a section C (2 (T M )) such that [, ] = 0,

where [, ] is the Shouten bracket.
Remark. [, ] C (3 (T M )), so for a surface (2) , all C (2 (T M )) are Poisson.
This denes a bracket on functions, called the Poisson bracket:
Denition 9. The Poisson bracket of two functions f, g C (0 (T M )) is
{f, g} = (df, dg) = (df dg) = [[, f ] , g]
Proposition 2. The triple (C (M ), , { , }) is a Poisson algebra, i.e., it satises the properties below. For
f, g, h C (0 (T M )),
Leibniz rule {f, gh} = {f, g} h + g {f, h}
Jacobi identity: {f, {g, h}} + {g, {h, f }} + {h, {f, g}} = 0

Problem. Write {f, g} in coordinates for = ij x

i

xj .

A basic example of a Poisson structure is given by 1 , where is a symplectic form on M , since

1 1
,
= 0 d = 0

(6)

Problem. Prove (6) by testing d(Xf , Xg , Xh ), for f, g, h C (M ).

Poisson manifolds are of interest in physics: given a function H C (M ) on a Poisson manifold (M, ),
t
. H is called Hamiltonian, and we usually think
we get a unique vector eld XH = (dH) and its ow F lX
H
about it as energy.
We have XH (H) = (dH, dH) = 0, so H is preserved by the ow. What other functions f C (M )
are preserved by the ow? A function f C (M ) is conserved by the ow if and only if XH (f ) = 0,
equivalently {H, f } = 0, f commutes with the Hamiltonian.
If we can nd k conserved quantities, H0 = H, H1 , H2 , . . . , Hk such that {H0 , Hi } = 0, then the system
must remain on a level surface Z = {x : (H0 , . . . , Hk ) = c} for all time. Moreover, if {Hi , Hj } for all i, j
t
then we get commutative ows F lX
. If Z is compact, connected, and k = n, then Z is a torus Tn , and the
Hi
trajectory is a straight line in these coordinates. Also, Tn is Lagrangian.

Problem. Describe the Hamiltonian ow on T M for H = f , with f C (M ) and : T M M .

Show that a coordinate patch for M gives a natural system of n commuting Hamiltonians.
Let us now think about a Poisson structure, : T T and consider = Im. is spanned at each
point x by (df ) = Xf , Hamiltonian vector elds. The Poisson tensor is always preserved:
LXf = [, Xf ] = [, [, f ]] = [[, ] , f ] + (1)11 [, [, f ]] = [, [, f ]]
= LXf = 0
If x0 = Xf1 , . . . , Xfk , then
T S = .

t1
F lX
1

tk
. . . F lX
(x0 ) sweeps out S x0 submanifold of M such that
k

Example (of a generalized Poisson structure). Let M = g , for g a Lie algebra, [, ] 2 g g. Then

T M = M g and T M = M g, and also 2 (T M ) = M 2 g, so [, ] C (2 T g ).

Given f1 , f2 C (M ), their Poisson bracket is given by {f1 , f2 } (x) = [df1 , df2 ] , x.

For f, g g linear functions on M, we have

Xf (g) = [f, g] , x = adf g, x = g, adf x

Thus Xf = adf , so the the leaves of = Im are coadjoint orbits. If S is a leaf, then

0 NS T |S T |S 0

is a short exact sequence and we have an isomorphism : T S = TN |SS T S, which implies that the leaf
S is symplectic.

Given f, g C (S), we can extend them to f, g C (M ). The Poisson bracket f, g is independent

of choice of f, g, so {f, g} = f, g
is well dened.

Therefore, giving a Poisson structure on a manifold is the same as giving a generalized folliation with
symplectic leaves.
When is Poisson, [, ] = 0, we can dene
d = [, ] : C (k T ) C (k+1 T )
Note that [, ] is of degree (2 1), so it makes sense to cal it d . Also,
d2 (A) = [, [, A]] = [[, ] , A] [, [, A]] = [, [, A]]
= d2 = 0
Thus, we have a chain complex
d

. . . C (k1 T )
C (k T )
C (k+1 T ) . . .

Moreover, if mf denotes multiplication by f C (M ),

[d , mf ] = d (f ) f d = [, f ] f [, ] = [, f ] = df
But for any T , = 0, ( ) : k T k+1 T is exact only for =
0. So, if is not invertible, d
is not an elliptic complex, and the Poisson cohomology groups, Hk (M ) = Ker d |k T /Im d |k1 T could be
innite dimensional on a compact M .
Let us look at the rst such groups:
H0 (M ) = {f : d f = 0} = {f : Xf = 0} = {Casimir functions, i.e. functions s.t. {f, g} = 0 for all g}
H1 (M ) = {X : d X = 0} /Im d = {innitesimal symmetries of Poisson vector elds} /Hamiltonians

H2 (M ) = P C (2 T ) : [, P ] = 0 = tangent space to the moduli space of Poisson structures

7