Parallelization (mathematics)

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In mathematics, a parallelization [1] of a manifold of dimension n is a set of n global smooth linearly independent vector fields.

Contents

Formal definition

Given a manifold of dimension n, a parallelization of is a set of n smooth vector fields defined on all of such that for every the set is a basis of , where denotes the fiber over of the tangent vector bundle .

A manifold is called parallelizable whenever it admits a parallelization.

Examples

Properties

Proposition. A manifold is parallelizable iff there is a diffeomorphism such that the first projection of is and for each the second factor—restricted to —is a linear map .

In other words, is parallelizable if and only if is a trivial bundle. For example, suppose that is an open subset of , i.e., an open submanifold of . Then is equal to , and is clearly parallelizable. [2]

See also

Notes

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