Understanding the Parallel Transport Problem in Riemannian Geometry

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on Problem 4 from Chapter 2 of Do Carmo's "Riemannian Geometry," which addresses the conditions for a vector field V to be parallel along a differentiable curve c on a surface M^2 in R^3. It establishes that V is parallel if and only if the derivative dV/dt is perpendicular to the tangent space T_{c(t)}. The user seeks clarification on the application of the covariant derivative and the implications of the metric tensor in this context, specifically regarding the dot product of vectors in the tangent space.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Riemannian geometry concepts, specifically induced metrics.
  • Familiarity with differentiable curves and vector fields in R^3.
  • Knowledge of covariant derivatives and their properties.
  • Basic grasp of tensor notation and operations, including the metric tensor.
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the properties of covariant derivatives in Riemannian geometry.
  • Learn about the implications of the metric tensor on vector fields.
  • Explore examples of parallel transport on surfaces in R^3.
  • Review Problem 3 from Do Carmo's "Riemannian Geometry" for foundational concepts.
USEFUL FOR

Students and researchers in differential geometry, mathematicians focusing on Riemannian geometry, and anyone interested in the mathematical foundations of parallel transport on surfaces.

drgigi
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Hi!
I've finally decided to tackle a diff geom book, but I'm having trouble with this Problem 4/Chapter 2 from Do Carmo's Riemannian Geometry:

Let M^2\subset R^3 be a surface in R^3 with induced Riemannian metric. Let c:I\rightarrow M be a differentiable curve on M and let V be a vector field tangent to M along c; V can be thought of as a smooth function V:I\rightarrow R^3, with V(t)\in T_{c(t)}M.

a)show that V is parallel if and only if dV/dt is perpendicular to T_{c(t)}\subset R^3 where dV/dt is the usual derivative of V:I\rightarrow R^3

b) hopefully I can handle myself. will come back if not! :)

So I guess the plan is to use
DV/dt=(dv^k/dt + \Gamma^k_{ij} v^j dx^i/dt) X_k=0
and dot it with some vector u^iX_i. If I can show that the second term in Dv/dt dotted with this u is zero the problem is done, but I don't see why that should be true..
if I dot X_i with X_j i get \delta_{i,j}, right? what then?

any hints would be great! Thanks!
 
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And did you solve Problem 3 before getting to Problem 4?
 

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