Gauss–Codazzi equations

In Riemannian geometry and pseudo-Riemannian geometry, the Gauss–Codazzi equations (also called the Gauss–
Codazzi–Mainardi equations or Gauss–Peterson–Codazzi Formulas[1]) are fundamental formulas which link
together the induced metric and second fundamental form of a submanifold of (or immersion into) a Riemannian or
pseudo-Riemannian manifold.

The equations were originally discovered in the context of surfaces in three-dimensional Euclidean space. In this
context, the first equation, often called the Gauss equation (after its discoverer Carl Friedrich Gauss), says that the
Gauss curvature of the surface, at any given point, is dictated by the derivatives of the Gauss map at that point, as
encoded by the second fundamental form.[2] The second equation, called the Codazzi equation or Codazzi-Mainardi
equation, states that the covariant derivative of the second fundamental form is fully symmetric. It is named for
Gaspare Mainardi (1856) and Delfino Codazzi (1868–1869), who independently derived the result,[3] although it was
discovered earlier by Karl Mikhailovich Peterson.[4][5]

Contents
Formal statement
Gauss–Codazzi equations in classical differential geometry
Statement of classical equations
Derivation of classical equations
Mean curvature
See also
Notes
References
External links

Formal statement
Let be an n-dimensional embedded submanifold of a Riemannian manifold P of dimension . There is
a natural inclusion of the tangent bundle of M into that of P by the pushforward, and the cokernel is the normal bundle
of M:

The metric splits this short exact sequence, and so

Relative to this splitting, the Levi-Civita connection of P decomposes into tangential and normal components. For
each and vector field Y on M,

Let
The Gauss formula[6] now asserts that is the Levi-Civita connection for M, and is a symmetric vector-valued
form with values in the normal bundle. It is often referred to as the second fundamental form.

An immediate corollary is the Gauss equation. For ,

where is the Riemann curvature tensor of P and R is that of M.

The Weingarten equation is an analog of the Gauss formula for a connection in the normal bundle. Let
and a normal vector field. Then decompose the ambient covariant derivative of along X into tangential and normal
components:

Then

1. Weingarten's equation:
2. DX is a metric connection in the normal bundle.

There are thus a pair of connections: ∇, defined on the tangent bundle of M; and D, defined on the normal bundle of M.
These combine to form a connection on any tensor product of copies of TM and T⊥M. In particular, they defined the
covariant derivative of :

The Codazzi–Mainardi equation is

Since every immersion is, in particular, a local embedding, the above formulas also hold for immersions.

Gauss–Codazzi equations in classical differential geometry

Statement of classical equations

In classical differential geometry of surfaces, the Codazzi–Mainardi equations are expressed via the second
fundamental form (L, M, N):

The Gauss formula, depending on how one chooses to define the Gaussian curvature, may be a tautology. It can be
stated as

where (e, f, g) are the components of the first fundamental form.

Derivation of classical equations

Consider a parametric surface in Euclidean 3-space,

where the three component functions depend smoothly on ordered pairs (u,v) in some open domain U in the uv-plane.
Assume that this surface is regular, meaning that the vectors ru and rv are linearly independent. Complete this to a
basis{ru ,rv ,n}, by selecting a unit vector n normal to the surface. It is possible to express the second partial derivatives
of r using the Christoffel symbols and the second fundamental form.

Clairaut's theorem states that partial derivatives commute:

If we differentiate ruu with respect to v and ruv with respect to u, we get:

Now substitute the above expressions for the second derivatives and equate the coefficients of n:

Rearranging this equation gives the first Codazzi–Mainardi equation.

The second equation may be derived similarly.

Mean curvature
Let M be a smooth m-dimensional manifold immersed in the (m + k)-dimensional smooth manifold P. Let
be a local orthonormal frame of vector fields normal to M. Then we can write,

If, now, is a local orthonormal frame (of tangent vector fields) on the same open subset of M, then
we can define the mean curvatures of the immersion by

In particular, if M is a hypersurface of P, i.e. , then there is only one mean curvature to speak of. The immersion
is called minimal if all the are identically zero.

Observe that the mean curvature is a trace, or average, of the second fundamental form, for any given component.
Sometimes mean curvature is defined by multiplying the sum on the right-hand side by .

We can now write the Gauss–Codazzi equations as

Contracting the components gives us

When M is a hypersurface, this simplifies to

where and . In that case, one more contraction yields,

where and are the scalar curvatures of P and M respectively, and

If , the scalar curvature equation might be more complicated.

We can already use these equations to draw some conclusions. For example, any minimal immersion[7] into the round
sphere must be of the form

where runs from 1 to and

is the Laplacian on M, and is a positive constant.

See also
Darboux frame

Notes
1. Toponogov (2006)
2. This equation is the basis for Gauss's theorema egregium. Gauss 1828.
3. (Kline 1972, p. 885).
4. Peterson (1853)
5. Ivanov 2001.
6. Terminology from Spivak, Volume III.
7. Takahashi 1966

References
Historical references

Bonnet, Ossian (1867), "Memoire sur la theorie des surfaces applicables sur une surface donnee",
Journal de l'École Polytechnique, 25: 31–151
Codazzi, Delfino (1868–1869), "Sulle coordinate curvilinee d'una superficie dello spazio", Ann. Mat.
Pura Appl., 2: 101–19
 Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1828), "Disquisitiones Generales circa Superficies Curvas" [General
Discussions about Curved Surfaces], Comm. Soc. Gott. (in Latin), 6 ("General Discussions about
Curved Surfaces")
Ivanov, A.B. (2001) [1994], "Peterson–Codazzi equations" (https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.
php?title=Peterson–Codazzi_equations), Encyclopedia of Mathematics, EMS Press
Kline, Morris (1972), Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (https://archive.org/details/m
athematicalthou00morr), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-506137-3
Mainardi, Gaspare (1856), "Su la teoria generale delle superficie", Giornale dell' Istituto Lombardo, 9:
385–404
Peterson, Karl Mikhailovich (1853), Über die Biegung der Flächen, Doctoral thesis, Dorpat University.

Textbooks

do Carmo, Manfredo P. Differential geometry of curves & surfaces. Revised & updated second edition.
Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY, 2016. xvi+510 pp. ISBN 978-0-486-80699-0, 0-486-80699-5
do Carmo, Manfredo Perdigão. Riemannian geometry. Translated from the second Portuguese edition
by Francis Flaherty. Mathematics: Theory & Applications. Birkhäuser Boston, Inc., Boston, MA, 1992.
xiv+300 pp. ISBN 0-8176-3490-8
Kobayashi, Shoshichi; Nomizu, Katsumi. Foundations of differential geometry. Vol. II. Interscience
Tracts in Pure and Applied Mathematics, No. 15 Vol. II Interscience Publishers John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., New York-London-Sydney 1969 xv+470 pp.
O'Neill, Barrett. Semi-Riemannian geometry. With applications to relativity. Pure and Applied
Mathematics, 103. Academic Press, Inc. [Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers], New York, 1983.
xiii+468 pp. ISBN 0-12-526740-1
V. A. Toponogov. Differential geometry of curves and surfaces. A concise guide. Birkhauser Boston,
Inc., Boston, MA, 2006. xiv+206 pp. ISBN 978-0-8176-4384-3; ISBN 0-8176-4384-2.

Articles

Takahashi, Tsunero (1966), "Minimal immersions of Riemannian manifolds", Journal of the

Mathematical Society of Japan
Simons, James. Minimal varieties in riemannian manifolds. Ann. of Math. (2) 88 (1968), 62–105.

External links
Peterson–Mainardi–Codazzi Equations – from Wolfram MathWorld (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pete
rson-Mainardi-CodazziEquations.html)
Peterson–Codazzi Equations (https://encyclopediaofmath.org/wiki/Peterson-Codazzi_equations)

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