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Equal fixed-surface flow heights imply boundary tangency
Statement
Let be a smooth four-manifold without boundary, open, and a smooth vector field on . Let be a smooth embedded three-dimensional collar with boundary the smooth surface , and assume . Write for the maximal flow of on , with open domain . Let be smooth up to , with for every and . Define the variable-time maps directly by , and suppose both are smooth embeddings up to .
For , let be the closed inward tangent half-space: in a boundary chart with collar interior , it is the set of vectors with third coordinate nonnegative, including . Here the exterior tangent side of means , the tangent half-space pointing into the collar image, rather than a choice of ambient normal side.
Both maps fix pointwise. If at , then, using the inclusion , their differentials satisfy . Consequently their images have the same tangent hyperplane at and the same exterior tangent side. The common differential restricts to the identity on . No equality of and is required.
Facts & Assumptions
A smooth vector field on the boundaryless manifold has a unique maximal smooth flow on an open domain; its time curves are its unique maximal integral curves. The fundamental theorem on flows
An embedded smooth submanifold with boundary carries a manifold-with-boundary smooth structure whose inclusion is a smooth embedding. Embedded smooth submanifolds with boundary
A smooth embedding has injective differential on the full tangent space, including at boundary points, and is a homeomorphism onto its image. Immersions and embeddings for manifolds with boundary
In a boundary chart the full tangent space has inward, outward and boundary-tangent vectors distinguished by the sign of the last coordinate; this distinction is chart independent. Inward, outward, and boundary-tangent vectors
Smooth half-space maps obey the chain rule for their full derivatives at boundary points, as computed from smooth local extensions. Chain rule for smooth half-space maps
For the maximal flow on , is open and is a diffeomorphism with inverse . Time-t flow maps are diffeomorphisms between open domains
The collar assumption uses a smooth boundary collar: a smooth embedding with and image an open neighborhood of in ; the width may first be a positive smooth function of . math:def-smooth-collar-of-a-manifold-boundary
For the boundary inclusion , identifies with the boundary-tangent hyperplane of . The boundary tangent space is the boundary-tangent hyperplane
The differential of a diffeomorphism is a linear isomorphism at every point. The differential of a diffeomorphism is an isomorphism
Proof
Given: The assumptions in the Statement.
Goal: Prove boundary fixation, equality of the full tangent maps at equal heights, and equality of their inward image half-spaces.
For , the constant curve at is an integral curve of for every real time, since . Uniqueness in [F1] identifies it with the maximal integral curve through . Thus for all , and . In particular, the fixed-time flow restricts to the identity on , so its differential on , identified with the boundary-tangent hyperplane by [F8], is the identity.
Fix and . The map takes values in the open set ; near this openness permits the usual smooth coordinate differentiation, including a smooth extension across the boundary of . Apply the half-space chain rule to its composition with . For every , using the differential of the inclusion into , this gives . Here follows from the integral-curve property of [F1]. Step 1.1 and therefore give on the full tangent space, without any condition on .
If , step 2.1 gives equality of the two differentials with the restriction of . Since , [F6] applies on the ambient open set ; by [F9], this ambient differential is an invertible map . Its restriction to is injective. The embedding hypotheses and [F2]–[F3] identify with , so the two image tangent hyperplanes agree.
By [F4] and [F8], the closed half-space in the Statement is intrinsic to the collar interior. The equal linear maps in step 3.1 carry this same half-space to equal half-spaces in the common tangent hyperplane, precisely the asserted common exterior tangent side. Their restriction to is the identity by step 1.1. Together with the pointwise boundary fixation in step 1.1, this proves all the conclusions without requiring equality of the height derivatives.
Depends on
- The fundamental theorem on flows
- Embedded smooth submanifolds with boundary
- Immersions and embeddings for manifolds with boundary
- Inward, outward, and boundary-tangent vectors
- Chain rule for smooth half-space maps
- Time-t flow maps are diffeomorphisms between open domains
- Smooth collars of a manifold boundary
- The boundary tangent space is the boundary-tangent hyperplane
- The differential of a diffeomorphism is an isomorphism
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