Differentiable Manifolds and Tangent Spaces

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In  Rn , there is a globally defined orthonormal frame

E1p=(1,0,⋯,0)p, E2p=(0,1,0,⋯,0)p,⋯,Enp=(0,⋯,0,1)p.

For any tangent vector  Xp∈Tp(Rn) ,  Xp=∑ni=1αiEip . Note that the coefficients  αi  are the ones that distinguish tangent vectors in  Tp(Rn) . For a differentiable function  f , the directional derivative  X∗pf  of  f  with respect to  Xp  is given by

X∗pf=∑i=1nαi(∂f∂xi).

We identify each  Xp  with the differential operator

X∗p=∑i=1nαi∂∂xi:C∞(p)⟶R.

Then the frame fields  E1p,E2p,⋯,Enp  are identified with

(∂∂x1)p,(∂∂x2)p,⋯,(∂∂xn)p

respectively. Unlike  Rn , we cannot always have a globally defined frame on a differentiable manifold. So it is necessary for us to use local coordinate neighborhoods that are homeomorphic to Rn  and the associated frames  ∂∂x1,∂∂x2,⋯,∂∂xn .

Example. The points  (x,y,z)  are represented in terms of the spherical coordinates  (ϕ,θ)  as

x=sinϕcosθ,y=sinϕsinθ,z=cosϕ, 0≤ϕ≤π, 0≤θ≤2π.

By chain rule, one finds the standard basis  ∂∂ϕ,∂∂θ  for  T∗S2 :

∂∂ϕ∂∂θ=cosϕcosθ∂∂x+cosϕsinθ∂∂y−sinϕ∂∂z,=−sinϕsinθ∂∂x+sinϕcosθ∂∂y.

The frame field is not globally defined on  S2  since  ∂∂θ  at  ϕ=0,π . More generally, the following theorem holds.

Frame field on 2-sphere

Theorem. [Hairy Ball Theorem] If  n  is even, a non-vanishing  C∞  vector field on  Sn  does not exist i.e. a  C∞  vector field on  Sn  must take zero value at some point of  Sn .

The Hairy Ball Theorem tells us why we have ball spots on our heads. It can be also stated as “you cannot comb a hairy ball flat.” There may also be a meteorological implication of this theorem. It may implicate that there must be at least one spot on earth where there is no wind at all. No-wind spot may be the eye of a hurricane. So, as long as there is wind (and there always is) on earth, there must be a hurricane somewhere at all times.

It has been known that all odd-dimensional spheres have at least one non-vanishing  C∞  vector field and that only spheres  S1,S3,S7  have a  C∞  field of basis. For instance, there are three mutually perpendicular unit vector fields on  S3⊂R4  i.e. a frame field: Let  S3={(x1,x2,x3,x4)∈R4:∑4i=1(xi)2=1} . Then

XYZ=−x2∂∂x1+x2∂∂x2+x4∂∂x3−x3∂∂x4,=−x3∂∂x1−x4∂∂x2+x1∂∂x3+x2∂∂x4,=−x4∂∂x1+x3∂∂x2−x2∂∂x3+x1∂∂x4

form an orthonormal basis of  C∞  vector fields on  S3 .