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Suppose we have a Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ and a fixed vector field $X$. Consider the following equations for a 2-form $F$: $$dF=0$$ $$(\delta-\iota_X) F=0$$

Here, $\delta$ is the codifferential i.e. the adjoint of $d$ and $\iota_X$ is interior multiplication.

Has anyone seen such a system before? It came up naturally in something I was looking at. I'm interested whether there are general existence results for $F$ (perhaps maybe for a restricted class of $X$?). I'd be more than pleased if anyone knew merely where to turn to in the literature to read about such a system. Thanks.

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  • $\begingroup$ In the special case, if $X\in \ker F$ then the problem reduced to harmonic 2-form in compact manifolds. $\endgroup$
    – C.F.G
    Commented Sep 30, 2016 at 8:08

1 Answer 1

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Most perturbations of overdetermined, involutive systems, such as $\mathrm{d}F = \delta\,F = 0$, have no nontrivial solutions.

For example, consider the first nontrivial case: A $2$-dimensional (oriented) Riemannian manifold $(M^2,g)$ with a nonvanishing vector field $X$. Locally can choose an oriented orthonormal coframe field $(\omega_1,\omega_2)$ so that $g = {\omega_1}^2 + {\omega_2}^2$ and $\omega_2(X)=0$ while $\omega_1(X) = x$ for some function $x>0$. Write $F = f\,\omega_1\wedge\omega_2$. Of course, $\mathrm{d}F=0$ is an identity, but one has $$ (\delta - \iota_X)F = f_2\,\omega_1 - (f_1{+}xf)\,\omega_2 $$ where $\mathrm{d}f = f_1\,\omega_1 + f_2\,\omega_2$, so this is two equations $$ f_1 + xf = f_2 = 0. $$ However, since $\delta^2 = 0$, we also get $\delta(\iota_XF) = -(f_2x + f x_2) = 0$ (where $\mathrm{d}x = x_1\,\omega_1 + x_2\,\omega_2$), which, together with the above equations becomes $x_2\,f = 0$. Thus, if $x_2$ is nonvanishing, we must have $f = 0$, i.e., $F = 0$ as the only solution.

Now, in the special case that $x_2$ vanishes identically, the above equations become $$ \mathrm{d}f = -fx\,\omega_1\qquad\text{and}\qquad \mathrm{d}x = x_1\,\omega_1\,. $$ If there is any nonzero solution $f$ to the first equation, then we must have $\mathrm{d}(x\omega_1) = 0$, and, coupling this with the second equation, we find that $0 = \mathrm{d}(x\omega_1) = x\,\mathrm{d}\omega_1$, so, since $x$ is nonvanishing, we must have $\mathrm{d}\omega_1 = 0$. In particular, there must exist local coordinates $(u,v)$ so that $\omega_1 = \mathrm{d}u$ and $\omega_2 = h(u,v)\,\mathrm{d}v$. Now, the local solutions can all be written in the form $$ F = c\,\mathrm{e}^{a(u)}\,h(u,v)\,\mathrm{d}u\wedge\mathrm{d}v,\qquad X = a'(u)\,\frac{\partial}{\partial u},\qquad g = \mathrm{d}u^2 + h(u,v)^2\,\mathrm{d}v^2, $$ where $a'(u) > 0$ and $c$ is a constant.

A similar analysis can be done in any dimension, and you'll get nontrivial conditions on the pair $(g,X)$ in order for there to be nontrivial solutions. In general, though, the 'extra' first order equation $\delta(\iota_XF)=0$ on the unknown $2$-form $F$ is not compatible with the (already overdetermined) system $\mathrm{d}F = (\delta - \iota_X)F = 0$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for taking the time to give such a thorough answer. Is there better hope for a solution if, say, (M, g) is a shrinking gradient Ricci soliton ($Rc+\nabla^2 f=(1/2)g$) and $X=c\nabla f$ (constant $c$)? (Which was in fact the context in which this equation arose for me.) $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 30, 2016 at 14:23

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