A SIMPLE FORMULA FOR GENERATING CHERN CHARACTERS BY REPEATED EXTERIOR DIFFERENTIATION

C. C. Briggs
Center for Academic Computing, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802
Monday, August 9, 1999
Abstract. A simple formula is given for generating Chern characters by repeated exterior differentiation for n-dimensional differentiable manifolds having a general linear
connection.
PACS numbers: 02.40.-k, 04.20.Fy
This paper presents a simple formula for generating Chern characters by repeated exterior differentiation for n-dimensional differentiable manifolds having a
general linear connection.
The Chern characters ch
(p)
of such a manifold M are (2p)-forms as defined, for p > 0, by
1-3
ch
(p)
=
i
p
2
p

p
p!
tr(
p
) (1)
=
i
p
2
p

p
p!

i
p
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
p 3
i
p 2

i
p 2
i
p 1

i
p 1
i
p
=
i
p
2
p

p
p!

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
p 3
i
p 2

i
p 2
i
p 1

i
p 1
i
p

i
p
i
1
,
where
a
b
is the curvature 2-form of M.
The 1
st
ordinary exterior differentials of the basis tangent vectors e
a
of M
are given by
4-6
d e
a
= e
b

a
b
, (2)
the contractions of which with the basis 1-forms
b
of M are given by

b
, d e
a
=
a
b
(3)
and in view of which the 1
st
absolute exterior differentials of e
a
are given by
D e
a
= d e
a
e
b

a
b
(4)
= 0,
where
a
b
is the connection 1-form of M and where the contractions of
b
with e
a
are given by

b
, e
a
=
b
a
, (5)
where
b
a
is the Kronecker delta.
The 2
nd
ordinary exterior differentials of e
a
are given by
7-16
d
2
e
a
= d d e
a
(6)
= d e
b

a
b
= (d e
b
)
a
b
+ e
b
d
a
b
= e
c

b
c

a
b
+ e
b
d
a
b
= e
b
(d
a
b
+
c
b

a
c
)
= e
b

a
b
,
the contractions of which with
b
are given by

b
, d
2
e
a
=
a
b
(7)
and where

a
b
= d
a
b
+
c
b

a
c
(8)
= D
a
b
+
a
c

c
b
= d
a
b

a
c

c
b
= D
a
b

c
b

a
c
.
The 3
rd
ordinary exterior differentials of e
a
are given by
d
3
e
a
= d d
2
e
a
(9)
= d e
b

a
b
= (d e
b
)
a
b
+ e
b
d
a
b
= (e
c

b
c
)
a
b
+ e
b
d
a
b
= e
c

b
c

a
b
using Bianchis identity for
a
b
,
17
i.e.,
D
a
b
= d
a
b

a
c

c
b
+
c
b

a
c
(10)
= 0,
as well as by
d
3
e
a
= d
2
d e
a
(11)
= d
2
e
b

a
b
= (d
2
e
b
)
a
b
+ e
b
d
2

a
b
= (e
c

b
c
)
a
b
+ 0
= e
c

b
c

a
b
1
Eguchi, T., P. B. Gilkey, and A. J. Hanson, Gravitation, Gauge Theories and Differential Geometry, Physics Reports, 66 (1980) 213.
2
Nakahara, M., Geometry, Topology, and Physics, IOP Publishing Ltd., Bristol, England (1990), p. 385.
3
Bradlow, S., Characteristic Classes for Complex Bundles II, in The Geometry of Vector Bundles and an Introduction to Gauge Theory, [unpublished lecture notes], 1998, Lecture 30.
4
Misner, C. W., K. S. Thorne, and J. A. Wheeler, Gravitation, W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, CA (1973), p. 350.
5
Cartan, . J., Leons sur la gomtrie des espaces de Riemann, Gauthier-Villars et C
ie
, Paris, France (1928), p. 180; Leons sur la gomtrie des espaces de Riemann, 2nd dition, rev. et
augm., Gauthier-Villars, Paris, France (1946), p. 180.
6
Chern, S. S., A simple intrinsic proof of the Gauss-Bonnet formula for closed Riemannian manifolds, Ann. of Math., 45 (1944) 747; On the curvatura integra in a Riemannian
manifold, ibid., 46 (1945) 674; On the Minimal Immersions of the Two-sphere in a Space of Constant Curvature, in Gunning, R. C. (ed.), Problems in Analysis: A Symposium in
Honor of Salomon Bochner, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (1970), p. 27.
7
Bott, R., and S. S. Chern, Some Formulas Related to Complex Transgression, in Haefliger, A., and R. Narasimhan (eds.), Essays on Topology and Related Topics; Memoires ddis
Georges de Rham, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY (1970), p. 48.
8
Bradlow, S., Curvatures, op. cit., Lecture 20.
9
Cartan, . J., Sur les varits connexion affine et la thorie de la relativit gnralise (Premire Partie), Annales scientifiques de lcole Normale suprieure, 40 (1923) 325; (1928),
op. cit., p. 182; (1946), op. cit., p. 181.
10
Chern, S. S., Differential Geometry of Fiber Bundles, in Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, 2 (1950) 397; Topics in Differential Geometry, [mimeographed
notes], The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (1951), Chap. 3, Sec. 3; (1970), op. cit.
11
Cohen, J. M., Exterior Differential Forms and Orthonormal Cartan Frames, [unpublished monograph], (1975), p. 33.
12
Flanders, H., Development of an Extended Exterior Differential Calculus, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 75 (1953) 311; Methods in Affine Connection Theory, Pac. J. Math., 5 (1955)
391; Differential Forms with Applications to the Physical Sciences, Academic Press, New York, NY (1963), pp. 130 and 144.
13
Misner, C. W., et al., op. cit., pp. 350-351 and 359.
14
Petrie, T., and J. Randall, Connections, Definite Forms, and Four-manifolds, Clarendon Press, Oxford, England (1990), pp. 11-12.
15
Sattinger, D. H., and O. L. Weaver, Lie Groups and Algebras with Applications to Physics, Geometry, and Mechanics, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY (1986), p. 102.
16
Trautmann, A., Differential Geometry for PhysicistsStony Brook Lectures, Bibliopolis, edizioni di filosofia e scienze, Napoli, Italy (1984), pp. 91-92.
17
Cartan, . J., (1928), op. cit., p. 214; (1946), op. cit., p. 210.
2 Monday, August 9, 1999 Z-20
using Poincars theorem for scalar-valued exterior differential forms,
18-19
i.e.,
d
2
= 0, (12)
where is an arbitrary scalar-valued exterior differential form.
The 4
th
ordinary exterior differentials of e
a
are given by
d
4
e
a
= d
2
d
2
e
a
(13)
= d
2
e
b

a
b
= (d
2
e
b
)
a
b
+ e
b
d
2

a
b
= (e
c

b
c
)
a
b
+ 0
= e
c

b
c

a
b
.
The p
th
ordinary exterior differentials of e
a
for 0 p 10 are given by
e
a
= e
b

a
b
, (14)
d e
a
= e
b

a
b
, (15)
d
2
e
a
= e
b

a
b
, (16)
d
3
e
a
= e
c

b
c

a
b
, (17)
d
4
e
a
= e
c

b
c

a
b
, (18)
d
5
e
a
= e
d

c
d

b
c

a
b
, (19)
d
6
e
a
= e
d

c
d

b
c

a
b
, (20)
d
7
e
a
= e
e

d
e

c
d

b
c

a
b
, (21)
d
8
e
a
= e
e

d
e

c
d

b
c

a
b
, (22)
d
9
e
a
= e
f

e
f

d
e

c
d

b
c

a
b
, (23)
d
10
e
a
= e
f

e
f

d
e

c
d

b
c

a
b
. (24)
In general, the p
th
ordinary exterior differentials of e
a
for p > 0 are given (cf. Flanders
20
) by
d
p
e
a
=

e
i
1

i
2
i
1

i
3
i
2

i
4
i
3

i
(p 1)/2
i
(p 3)/2

i
(p + 1)/2
i
(p 1)/2

a
i
(p + 1)/2
, if p is odd
e
i
1

i
2
i
1

i
3
i
2

i
4
i
3

i
(p 2)/2
i
(p 4)/2

i
p/2
i
(p 2)/2

a
i
p/2
, if p is even
(25)
=

e
i
1

a
i
(p + 1)/2

i
(p + 1)/2
i
(p 1)/2

i
(p 1)/2
i
(p 3)/2

i
4
i
3

i
3
i
2

i
2
i
1
, if p is odd
e
i
1

a
i
p/2

i
p/2
i
(p 2)/2

i
(p 2)/2
i
(p 4)/2

i
4
i
3

i
3
i
2

i
2
i
1
, if p is even
=

e
i
(p + 1)/2

a
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
(p 5)/2
i
(p 3)/2

i
(p 3)/2
i
(p 1)/2

i
(p 1)/2
i
(p + 1)/2
, if p is odd
e
i
p/2

a
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
(p 6)/2
i
(p 4)/2

i
(p 4)/2
i
(p 2)/2

i
(p 2)/2
i
p/2
, if p is even
,
the contractions of which with
a
are given by

a
, d
p
e
a
=

a
i
(p + 1)/2

a
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
(p 5)/2
i
(p 3)/2

i
(p 3)/2
i
(p 1)/2

i
(p 1)/2
i
(p + 1)/2
, if p is odd

a
i
p/ 2

a
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
(p 6)/2
i
(p 4)/2

i
(p 4)/2
i
(p 2)/2

i
(p 2)/2
i
p/2
, if p is even
(26)
=

i
(p + 1)/2
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
(p 5)/2
i
(p 3)/2

i
(p 3)/2
i
(p 1)/2

i
(p 1)/2
i
(p + 1)/2
, if p is odd

i
p/2
i
1

i
1
i
2

i
2
i
3

i
(p 6)/2
i
(p 4)/2

i
(p 4)/2
i
(p 2)/2

i
(p 2)/2
i
p/2
, if p is even
.
Equation (26) then yields the formula in question, viz.,
ch
(p)
=
i
p
2
p

p
p!

a
, d
2p
e
a
. (27)
For an aside, note that using Eq. (18) and taking the 0
th
ordinary exterior
differentials of e
a
to be given by
d
0
e
a
= e
a
, (28)
the polynomial ch
(p)
for p = 0 is given by
ch
(0)
=
i
0
2
0

0
0!

a
, d
0
e
a
(29)
=
a
, e
a

=
a
a
= n,
where n, having appeared above, is the number of dimensions of M (cf.
Bradlow
21
).
Expressions for Chern characters and their formulas for 0 p 15 appear in
Table 1 (see below).
18
Cartan, . J., (1928), op. cit., pp. 209 and 215; Le systmes diffrentiels extrieurs et leurs applications gometriques, Actualits scientifiques et industrielles, 994, Exposs de gomtrie,
vol. 12, Librairie scientifiques Hermann & C
ie
, diteurs, Paris, France (1945), p. 37; (1946), op. cit., pp. 208 and 211.
19
Chern, S. S., The Geometry of Isotropic Surfaces, Annals of Math., 43 (1942) 545; On the Euclidean Connections in a Finsler Space, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 29 (1943) 33; Local
Equivalence and Euclidean Connections in Finsler Spaces, Science Reports Nat. Tsing Hua Univ., 5 (1948) 95.
20
Flanders, H., (1953), op. cit., Eq. (9.5).
21
Bradlow, S., Characteristic Classes for Complex Bundles II, op. cit.
Z-20 Monday, August 9, 1999 3
TABLE 1. EXPRESSIONS FOR CHERN CHARACTERS AND THEIR FORMULAS FOR 0 p 15
ORDER
CURVATURE
DEPENDENCE
QUAN-
TITY
MINIMUM DIMEN-
SIONALITY OF M
FORMULA p
th
CHERN CHARACTER
p ch
(p)
2p
i
p
2
p

p
p!

a
, d
2p
e
a

i
p
2
p

p
p!
tr(
p
)
0 Zero ch
(0)
0
i
0
2
0

0
0!

a
, d
0
e
a
n
1 Linear ch
(1)
2
i
1
2
1

1
1!

a
, d
2
e
a

i
2
tr()
2 Quadratic ch
(2)
4
i
2
2
2

2
2!

a
, d
4
e
a

1
8
2
tr(
2
)
3 Cubic ch
(3)
6
i
3
2
3

3
3!

a
, d
6
e
a

i
48
3
tr(
3
)
4 Quartic ch
(4)
8
i
4
2
4

4
4!

a
, d
8
e
a

1
384
4
tr(
4
)
5 Quintic ch
(5)
10
i
5
2
5

5
5!

a
, d
10
e
a

i
3840
5
tr(
5
)
6 Sextic ch
(6)
12
i
6
2
6

6
6!

a
, d
12
e
a

1
46,080
6
tr(
6
)
7 Septic ch
(7)
14
i
7
2
7

7
7!

a
, d
14
e
a

i
645,120
7
tr(
7
)
8 Octic ch
(8)
16
i
8
2
8

8
8!

a
, d
16
e
a

1
10,321,920
8
tr(
8
)
9 Nonic ch
(9)
18
i
9
2
9

9
9!

a
, d
18
e
a

i
185,794,560
9
tr(
9
)
10 Decic ch
(10)
20
i
10
2
10

10
10!

a
, d
20
e
a

1
3,715,891,200
10
tr(
10
)
11 Undecic ch
(11)
22
i
11
2
11

11
11!

a
, d
22
e
a

i
81,749,606,400
11
tr(
11
)
12 Duodecic ch
(12)
24
i
12
2
12

12
12!

a
, d
24
e
a

1
1,961,990,553,600
12
tr(
12
)
13 Tredecic ch
(13)
26
i
13
2
13

13
13!

a
, d
26
e
a

i
51,011,754,393,600
13
tr(
13
)
14 Quattuordecic ch
(14)
28
i
14
2
14

14
14!

a
, d
28
e
a

1
1,428,329,123,020,800
14
tr(
14
)
15 Quindecic ch
(15)
30
i
15
2
15

15
15!

a
, d
30
e
a

i
42,849,873,690,624,000
15
tr(
15
)
16 Sexdecic ch
(16)
32
i
16
2
16

16
16!

a
, d
32
e
a

1
1,371,195,958,099,968,000
16
tr(
16
)
17 Septendecic ch
(17)
34
i
17
2
17

17
17!

a
, d
34
e
a

i
46,620,662,575,398,912,000
17
tr(
17
)
18 Octodecic ch
(18)
36
i
18
2
18

18
18!

a
, d
36
e
a

1
1,678,343,852,714,360,832,000
18
tr(
18
)
19 Novemdecic ch
(19)
38
i
19
2
19

19
19!

a
, d
38
e
a

i
63,777,066,403,145,711,616,000
19
tr(
19
)
20 Vigintic ch
(20)
40
i
20
2
20

20
20!

a
, d
40
e
a

1
2,551,082,656,125,828,464,640,000
20
tr(
20
)