In differential geometry, the Lie derivative (liː ), named after Sophus Lie by Władysław Ślebodziński, evaluates the change of a tensor field (including scalar functions, vector fields and one-forms), along the flow defined by another vector field. This change is coordinate invariant and therefore the Lie derivative is defined on any differentiable manifold. Functions, tensor fields and forms can be differentiated with respect to a vector field. If T is a tensor field and X is a vector field, then the Lie derivative of T with respect to X is denoted . The differential operator is a derivation of the algebra of tensor fields of the underlying manifold. The Lie derivative commutes with contraction and the exterior derivative on differential forms. Although there are many concepts of taking a derivative in differential geometry, they all agree when the expression being differentiated is a function or scalar field. Thus in this case the word "Lie" is dropped, and one simply speaks of the derivative of a function. The Lie derivative of a vector field Y with respect to another vector field X is known as the "Lie bracket" of X and Y, and is often denoted [X,Y] instead of . The space of vector fields forms a Lie algebra with respect to this Lie bracket. The Lie derivative constitutes an infinite-dimensional Lie algebra representation of this Lie algebra, due to the identity valid for any vector fields X and Y and any tensor field T. Considering vector fields as infinitesimal generators of flows (i.e. one-dimensional groups of diffeomorphisms) on M, the Lie derivative is the differential of the representation of the diffeomorphism group on tensor fields, analogous to Lie algebra representations as infinitesimal representations associated to group representation in Lie group theory. Generalisations exist for spinor fields, fibre bundles with a connection and vector-valued differential forms. A 'naïve' attempt to define the derivative of a tensor field with respect to a vector field would be to take the components of the tensor field and take the directional derivative of each component with respect to the vector field.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (9)
PHYS-427: Relativity and cosmology I
Introduce the students to general relativity and its classical tests.
MATH-322: Differential geometry II - smooth manifolds
Smooth manifolds constitute a certain class of topological spaces which locally look like some Euclidean space R^n and on which one can do calculus. We introduce the key concepts of this subject, such
MATH-512: Optimization on manifolds
We develop, analyze and implement numerical algorithms to solve optimization problems of the form min f(x) where x is a point on a smooth manifold. To this end, we first study differential and Riemann
Show more
Related lectures (39)
Acceleration and geodesicsMOOC: Introduction to optimization on smooth manifolds: first order methods
Explains acceleration along curves and geodesics on manifolds, generalizing straight lines to spheres.
Differential Forms on Manifolds
Introduces differential forms on manifolds, covering tangent bundles and intersection pairings.
Taylor expansions: second orderMOOC: Introduction to optimization on smooth manifolds: first order methods
Explores Taylor expansions and retractions on Riemannian manifolds, emphasizing second-order approximations and covariant derivatives.
Show more
Related publications (32)

Resistances to change in urban travel behaviors

Marc-Edouard Baptiste Grégoire Schultheiss

The social discourse surrounding the climate emergency progressively infuses the society, transforming into both micro- and macro-social injunctions to change. Yet, society - grounded in a territorial, social, and cultural contingency - appears to resist t ...
EPFL2023

On the commutativity of flows of rough vector fields

Maria Colombo, Riccardo Tione

In the class of Sobolev vector fields in R-n of bounded divergence, for which the theory of DiPerna and Lions provides a well defined notion of flow, we characterize the vector fields whose flow commutes in terms of the Lie bracket and of a regularity cond ...
ELSEVIER2022

Covariant formulation of relativistic mechanics

Miguel Alexandre Ribeiro Correia

Accretion disks surrounding compact objects, and other environmental factors, deviate satellites from geodetic motion. Unfortunately, setting up the equations of motion for such relativistic trajectories is not as simple as in Newtonian mechanics. The prin ...
AMER PHYSICAL SOC2022
Show more
Related people (1)
Related concepts (26)
Differentiable manifold
In mathematics, a differentiable manifold (also differential manifold) is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One may then apply ideas from calculus while working within the individual charts, since each chart lies within a vector space to which the usual rules of calculus apply. If the charts are suitably compatible (namely, the transition from one chart to another is differentiable), then computations done in one chart are valid in any other differentiable chart.
Covariant derivative
In mathematics, the covariant derivative is a way of specifying a derivative along tangent vectors of a manifold. Alternatively, the covariant derivative is a way of introducing and working with a connection on a manifold by means of a differential operator, to be contrasted with the approach given by a principal connection on the frame bundle – see affine connection. In the special case of a manifold isometrically embedded into a higher-dimensional Euclidean space, the covariant derivative can be viewed as the orthogonal projection of the Euclidean directional derivative onto the manifold's tangent space.
Affine connection
In differential geometry, an affine connection is a geometric object on a smooth manifold which connects nearby tangent spaces, so it permits tangent vector fields to be differentiated as if they were functions on the manifold with values in a fixed vector space. Connections are among the simplest methods of defining differentiation of the sections of vector bundles.
Show more
Related MOOCs (1)
Introduction to optimization on smooth manifolds: first order methods
Learn to optimize on smooth, nonlinear spaces: Join us to build your foundations (starting at "what is a manifold?") and confidently implement your first algorithm (Riemannian gradient descent).

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.