Can someone explain me the notation of k-forms (Differentialforms)

analysisdifferential-forms

I'm looking at K-forms (Differential forms) and I somehow struggle a bit to understand the notation and the meaning of it. To be more precise I have problems in understanding the indexing. Let me explain what we have:

Let $U\subset \Bbb{R}^n$ be an open subset. Then a differentialform of order $k$ is defined to be an element $\omega(p)\in \bigwedge^k T_p^*(U)$ forall $p\in U$. The case where $k=1$ is clear since then $\bigwedge^1 T_p^*(U)=T_p^*(U)$ and thus we have one-forms which can be written as $$\omega(p)=\sum_{i=1}^n f_i dx_i$$ where $f_i:U\rightarrow \Bbb{R}$.Now similarly we have found a representation of differential forms of order $k$. There we can write $$\omega(p)=\sum_{i_1<…<i_k} f_{i_1…i_k}dx_{i_1}\wedge …\wedge dx_{i_k}$$but here I'm somehow lost. I don't see why we need some index $i_j$, when does the $i$ change, and what is the meaning of $i$? It would be very helpful if someone could explain this a bit and maybe we can discuss about it.

Thanks a lot.

Best Answer

For concreteness, let's take $n = 4$, so the coordinates on $\mathbb{R}^4$ are $(x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4)$.

$\bullet$ A differential $1$-form $\omega$ on an open set $U \subset \mathbb{R}^4$ can be written $$\omega = \sum_{1 \leq i \leq 4} f_i\,dx_i = f_1dx_1 + f_2\,dx_2 + f_3\,dx_3 + f_4dx_4$$ for some functions $f_1, \ldots, f_4 \colon U \to \mathbb{R}$.

$\bullet$ A differential $2$-form $\omega$ on an open set $U \subset \mathbb{R}^4$ can be written \begin{align*} \omega & = \sum_{1 \leq i < j \leq 4} f_{ij}\,dx_i \wedge dx_j \\ & = f_{12}\,dx_1 \wedge dx_2 + f_{13}\,dx_1 \wedge dx_3 + f_{14}\,dx_1 \wedge dx_4 \\ & \ \ \ \ \ \ \ + f_{23}\,dx_2 \wedge dx_3 + f_{24} \,dx_2 \wedge dx_4 + f_{34}\,dx_3 \wedge dx_4 \end{align*} for some functions $f_{12}, f_{13}, f_{14}, f_{23}, f_{24}, f_{34} \colon U \to \mathbb{R}$.

$\bullet$ A differential $3$-form $\omega$ on an open set $U \subset \mathbb{R}^4$ can be written \begin{align*} \omega & = \sum_{1 \leq i < j < m \leq 4} f_{ijm}\,dx_i \wedge dx_j \wedge dx_{m} \\ & = f_{123}\,dx_1 \wedge dx_2 \wedge dx_3 + f_{124}\,dx_1 \wedge dx_2 \wedge dx_4 \\ & \ \ \ \ \ + f_{134}\,dx_1 \wedge dx_3 \wedge dx_4 + f_{234}\,dx_2 \wedge dx_3 \wedge dx_4 \end{align*} for some functions $f_{123}, f_{124}, f_{134}, f_{234} \colon U \to \mathbb{R}$.

$\bullet$ A differential $4$-form $\omega$ on an open set $U \subset \mathbb{R}^4$ can be written \begin{align*} \omega & = \sum_{1 \leq i < j < m < p \leq 4} f_{ijmp}\,dx_i \wedge dx_j \wedge dx_{m} \wedge dx_p = f_{1234} \,dx_1 \wedge dx_2 \wedge dx_3 \wedge dx_4 \end{align*} for some function $f_{1234} \colon U \to \mathbb{R}$.

In general, when we work with differential $k$-forms on $\mathbb{R}^n$, we have to resort to writing the summation range as $$1 \leq i_1 < i_2 < \cdots < i_k \leq n$$ for the simple reason that we don't have infinitely many letters in the alphabet.

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