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François G. Dorais
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Solving a simple PDE on a 2 dimensional manifold

On a 2 dimensional surface X is a smooth vector field with isolated zeros. When is there a vector field Y such that the Lie bracket [x,Y] is equal to fY for some given function f on the surface minus the zeros?

Is this problem always solvable locally? If so, what determines whether a local solution can be extended to the entire vector field?

marc
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