MAT 553 - Variétés, fibrés vectoriels, formes différentielles

École polytechnique

MAT553 Exam - 14/12/2020

Duration: 3 hours
You may write your solutions in English or in French.

Exercise 1. Let a ∈ (1, +∞) and C ⊂ R2 be defined by the equation

y 2 = x(x − 1)(x − a).

We recall that the standard charts of the projective plane P2 (R) are given by

ϕ0 ([x : y : 1]) = (x, y), ϕ1 ([x : 1 : z]) = (x, z), ϕ2 ([1 : y : z]) = (y, z).

(i) Show that C is a submanifold of R2 .

(ii) Let D ⊂ P2 (R) be defined as

D = {[x : y : 1] ∈ P2 (R) | (x, y) ∈ C} ∪ {[0 : 1 : 0]}.

Check that for all (x, y, z) ∈ R3 \{0}, [x : y : z] ∈ D if and only if y 2 z = x(x−z)(x−az).

(iii) Show that there exists a neighborhood U of [ 0 : 1 : 0 ] in P2 (R) such that U ∩ D is a

submanifold of U . Deduce that D is a submanifold of P2 (R).

Exercise 2.
(i) Let v = (v1 , . . . , vn ) be a vector field on Rn and k > 0 an integer. We assume that vk+1 =
0, . . . , vn = 0. Show that the flow of v preserves the subspace Rk × {(0, . . . , 0)} ⊂ Rn .

(ii) Let M be a submanifold of a manifold X and let v be a complete vector field on X such
that v(x) ∈ Tx M for any x ∈ M . Show that the flow of v preserves M .

(iii) Conversely, show that if the flow of v preserves M , then v is everywhere tangent to M .

(iv) We consider the function f : R3 → R, (x, y, z) 7→ x2 − y 2 − z and the vector field v on

R3 given by v(x, y, z) = (y, x, 0). Show that Σ := f −1 (0) is a submanifold of R3 and
that the flow of v preserves Σ. Draw Σ and the integral curves of v on Σ (no need to
compute them explicitely).

Exercise 3. Let α be a differential form of degree 1 on a manifold X of dimension 3. We

will say that α satisfies the Property (P ) if α ∧ dα is a volume form.
(i) Check that the form β = sin z dx − cos z dy defined on R3 (with canonical coordinates
x, y, z) induces a form on the torus T3 = R3 /(2πZ)3 and that this form satisfies (P ).

(ii) We now consider the form λ = 21 (x1 dy1 − y1 dx1 + x2 dy2 − y2 dx2 ) on R4 with canonical
coordinates x1 , y1 , x2 , y2 . Denote by γ the restriction of λ to the unit sphere S3 . Show
that γ satisfies (P ). Hint: first check that λ ∧ dλ(x)(u, v, w) = det(x, u, v, w).

1
 γ ∧ dγ with the volume of the unit ball in R4 .
R
(iii) Compare S3

(iv) Let Ω be an alternating bilinear form on R3 and ` a linear form on R3 . Show that
Ω ∧ ` 6= 0 if and only if the restriction of Ω to ker(`) is non-zero. Deduce that α satisfies
(P ) if and only if the restriction of dαx to ker(αx ) is non-zero for all x ∈ M .

(v) Let S be a submanifold of dimension 2 of X and a ∈ X. We assume that Tx S = ker(α)

for any x in the neighborhood of a. We denote by i : S → M , x 7→ x the canonical
injection. Show that i∗ (dα) vanishes at a and deduce that α does not satisfy (P ). We
have shown that if α satisfies (P ) then there is no surface which is everywhere tangent
to the bundle ker(α).

Exercise 4. Let C denote the circle {(x, y, z) ∈ R3 : x2 + y 2 = 1, z = 0}. We consider

the manifold X = R3 \ C and the Mayer-Vietoris exact sequence associated to the open sets
U = X ∩ {(x, y, z) ∈ R3 : x < 21 } and V = X ∩ {(x, y, z) : x > − 12 }.

(i) What is the dimension of the De Rham cohomology groups of U , V and U ∩ V ?

(ii) Show that the map H 1 (U ) ⊕ H 1 (V ) → H 1 (U ∩ V ) appearing in the Mayer-Vietoris

sequence is an isomorphism.

(iii) Compute the dimensions of the de Rham cohomology groups of X.

(iv) Give a closed differential 1-form on X which represents a non-zero cohomology class in
H 1 (X).