# Poisson manifold

A Poisson structure on a smooth manifold ${\displaystyle M}$ is a Lie bracket ${\displaystyle \{\cdot ,\cdot \}}$ (called a Poisson bracket in this special case) on the algebra ${\displaystyle {C^{\infty }}(M)}$ of smooth functions on ${\displaystyle M}$, subject to the Leibniz rule

${\displaystyle \{fg,h\}=f\{g,h\}+g\{f,h\}}$.

Said in another manner, it is a Lie algebra structure on the vector space of smooth functions on ${\displaystyle M}$ such that ${\displaystyle X_{f}{\stackrel {\text{df}}{=}}\{f,\cdot \}:{C^{\infty }}(M)\to {C^{\infty }}(M)}$ is a vector field for each smooth function ${\displaystyle f}$, which we call the Hamiltonian vector field associated to ${\displaystyle f}$. These vector fields span a completely integrable singular foliation, each of whose maximal integral sub-manifolds inherits a symplectic structure. One may thus informally view a Poisson structure on a smooth manifold as a smooth partition of the ambient manifold into even-dimensional symplectic leaves, which are not necessarily of the same dimension.

Poisson structures are one instance of Jacobi structures introduced by André Lichnerowicz in 1977.[1] They were further studied in the classical paper of Alan Weinstein,[2] where many basic structure theorems were first proved, and which exerted a huge influence on the development of Poisson geometry — which today is deeply entangled with non-commutative geometry, integrable systems, topological field theories and representation theory, to name a few.

## Definition

Let ${\displaystyle M}$ be a smooth manifold. Let ${\displaystyle {C^{\infty }}(M)}$ denote the real algebra of smooth real-valued functions on ${\displaystyle M}$, where multiplication is defined pointwise. A Poisson bracket (or Poisson structure) on ${\displaystyle M}$ is an ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }$-bilinear map

${\displaystyle \{\cdot ,\cdot \}:{C^{\infty }}(M)\times {C^{\infty }}(M)\to {C^{\infty }}(M)}$

satisfying the following three conditions:

• Skew symmetry: ${\displaystyle \{f,g\}=-\{g,f\}}$.
• Jacobi identity: ${\displaystyle \{f,\{g,h\}\}+\{g,\{h,f\}\}+\{h,\{f,g\}\}=0}$.
• Leibniz's Rule: ${\displaystyle \{fg,h\}=f\{g,h\}+g\{f,h\}}$.

The first two conditions ensure that ${\displaystyle \{\cdot ,\cdot \}}$ defines a Lie-algebra structure on ${\displaystyle {C^{\infty }}(M)}$, while the third guarantees that for each ${\displaystyle f\in {C^{\infty }}(M)}$, the adjoint ${\displaystyle \{f,\cdot \}:{C^{\infty }}(M)\to {C^{\infty }}(M)}$ is a derivation of the commutative product on ${\displaystyle {C^{\infty }}(M)}$, i.e., is a vector field ${\displaystyle X_{f}}$. It follows that the bracket ${\displaystyle \{f,g\}}$ of functions ${\displaystyle f}$ and ${\displaystyle g}$ is of the form ${\displaystyle \{f,g\}=\pi (df\wedge dg)}$, where ${\displaystyle \pi \in \Gamma \left(\bigwedge ^{2}TM\right)}$ is a smooth bi-vector field, called the Poisson bi-vector.

Conversely, given any smooth bi-vector field ${\displaystyle \pi }$ on ${\displaystyle M}$, the formula ${\displaystyle \{f,g\}=\pi (df\wedge dg)}$ defines a bilinear skew-symmetric bracket ${\displaystyle \{\cdot ,\cdot \}}$ that automatically obeys Leibniz's rule. The condition that the ensuing ${\displaystyle \{\cdot ,\cdot \}}$ be a Poisson bracket — i.e., satisfy the Jacobi identity — can be characterized by the non-linear partial differential equation ${\displaystyle [\pi ,\pi ]=0}$, where

${\displaystyle [\cdot ,\cdot ]:{{\mathfrak {X}}^{p}}(M)\times {{\mathfrak {X}}^{q}}(M)\to {{\mathfrak {X}}^{p+q-1}}(M)}$

denotes the Schouten–Nijenhuis bracket on multi-vector fields. It is customary and convenient to switch between the bracket and the bi-vector points of view, and we shall do so below.

## Symplectic leaves

A Poisson manifold is naturally partitioned into regularly immersed symplectic manifolds, called its symplectic leaves.

Note that a bi-vector field can be regarded as a skew homomorphism ${\displaystyle \pi ^{\sharp }:T^{*}M\to TM}$. The rank of ${\displaystyle \pi }$ at a point ${\displaystyle x\in M}$ is then the rank of the induced linear mapping ${\displaystyle \pi _{x}^{\sharp }}$. Its image consists of the values ${\displaystyle {X_{f}}(x)}$ of all Hamiltonian vector fields evaluated at ${\displaystyle x}$. A point ${\displaystyle x\in M}$ is called regular for a Poisson structure ${\displaystyle \pi }$ on ${\displaystyle M}$ if and only if the rank of ${\displaystyle \pi }$ is constant on an open neighborhood of ${\displaystyle x\in M}$; otherwise, it is called a singular point. Regular points form an open dense subspace ${\displaystyle M_{\mathrm {reg} }\subseteq M}$; when ${\displaystyle M_{\mathrm {reg} }=M}$, we call the Poisson structure itself regular.

An integral sub-manifold for the (singular) distribution ${\displaystyle {\pi ^{\sharp }}(T^{*}M)}$ is a path-connected sub-manifold ${\displaystyle S\subseteq M}$ satisfying ${\displaystyle T_{x}S={\pi ^{\sharp }}(T_{x}^{\ast }M)}$ for all ${\displaystyle x\in S}$. Integral sub-manifolds of ${\displaystyle \pi }$ are automatically regularly immersed manifolds, and maximal integral sub-manifolds of ${\displaystyle \pi }$ are called the leaves of ${\displaystyle \pi }$. Each leaf ${\displaystyle S}$ carries a natural symplectic form ${\displaystyle \omega _{S}\in {\Omega ^{2}}(S)}$ determined by the condition ${\displaystyle [{\omega _{S}}(X_{f},X_{g})](x)=-\{f,g\}(x)}$ for all ${\displaystyle f,g\in {C^{\infty }}(M)}$ and ${\displaystyle x\in S}$. Correspondingly, one speaks of the symplectic leaves of ${\displaystyle \pi }$.[3] Moreover, both the space ${\displaystyle M_{\mathrm {reg} }}$ of regular points and its complement are saturated by symplectic leaves, so symplectic leaves may be either regular or singular.

## Examples

• Every manifold ${\displaystyle M}$ carries the trivial Poisson structure ${\displaystyle \{f,g\}=0}$.
• Every symplectic manifold ${\displaystyle (M,\omega )}$ is Poisson, with the Poisson bi-vector ${\displaystyle \pi }$ equal to the inverse ${\displaystyle \omega ^{-1}}$ of the symplectic form ${\displaystyle \omega }$.
• The dual ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {g}}^{*}}$ of a Lie algebra ${\displaystyle ({\mathfrak {g}},[\cdot ,\cdot ])}$ is a Poisson manifold. A coordinate-free description can be given as follows: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {g}}}$ naturally sits inside ${\displaystyle {C^{\infty }}({\mathfrak {g}}^{*})}$, and the rule ${\displaystyle \{X,Y\}{\stackrel {\text{df}}{=}}[X,Y]}$ for each ${\displaystyle X,Y\in {\mathfrak {g}}}$ induces a linear Poisson structure on ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {g}}^{*}}$, i.e., one for which the bracket of linear functions is again linear. Conversely, any linear Poisson structure must be of this form.
• Let ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {F}}}$ be a (regular) foliation of dimension ${\displaystyle 2r}$ on ${\displaystyle M}$ and ${\displaystyle \omega \in {\Omega ^{2}}({\mathcal {F}})}$ a closed foliation two-form for which ${\displaystyle \omega ^{r}}$ is nowhere-vanishing. This uniquely determines a regular Poisson structure on ${\displaystyle M}$ by requiring that the symplectic leaves of ${\displaystyle \pi }$ be the leaves ${\displaystyle S}$ of ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {F}}}$ equipped with the induced symplectic form ${\displaystyle \omega |_{S}}$.

## Poisson maps

If ${\displaystyle (M,\{\cdot ,\cdot \}_{M})}$ and ${\displaystyle (M',\{\cdot ,\cdot \}_{M'})}$ are two Poisson manifolds, then a smooth mapping ${\displaystyle \varphi :M\to M'}$ is called a Poisson map if it respects the Poisson structures, namely, if for all ${\displaystyle x\in M}$ and smooth functions ${\displaystyle f,g\in {C^{\infty }}(M')}$, we have:

${\displaystyle {\{f,g\}_{M'}}(\varphi (x))={\{f\circ \varphi ,g\circ \varphi \}_{M}}(x).}$

If ${\displaystyle \varphi :M\to M'}$ is also a diffeomorphism, then we call ${\displaystyle \varphi }$ an ichthyomorphism. In terms of Poisson bi-vectors, the condition that a map be Poisson is tantamount to requiring that ${\displaystyle \pi _{M}}$ and ${\displaystyle \pi _{M'}}$ be ${\displaystyle \varphi }$-related.

Poisson manifolds are the objects of a category ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {Poiss}}}$, with Poisson maps as morphisms.

Examples of Poisson maps:

• The Cartesian product ${\displaystyle (M_{0}\times M_{1},\pi _{0}\times \pi _{1})}$ of two Poisson manifolds ${\displaystyle (M_{0},\pi _{0})}$ and ${\displaystyle (M_{1},\pi _{1})}$ is again a Poisson manifold, and the canonical projections ${\displaystyle \mathrm {pr} _{i}:M_{0}\times M_{1}\to M_{i}}$, for ${\displaystyle i\in \{0,1\}}$, are Poisson maps.
• The inclusion mapping of a symplectic leaf, or of an open subspace, is a Poisson map.

It must be highlighted that the notion of a Poisson map is fundamentally different from that of a symplectic map. For instance, with their standard symplectic structures, there do not exist Poisson maps ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{2}\to \mathbb {R} ^{4}}$, whereas symplectic maps abound.

One interesting, and somewhat surprising, fact is that any Poisson manifold is the codomain/image of a surjective, submersive Poisson map from a symplectic manifold. [4][5][6]

## Notes

1. ^ Lichnerowicz, A. (1977). "Les variétés de Poisson et leurs algèbres de Lie associées". J. Diff. Geom. 12 (2): 253–300. MR 0501133.
2. ^ Weinstein, A. (1983). "The local structure of Poisson manifolds". J. Diff. Geom. 18 (3): 523–557.
3. ^ Fernandes, R.L.; Marcut, I. (2014). Lectures on Poisson Geometry. Yet unpublished lecture notes.[1]
4. ^ Crainic, M.; Marcut, I. (2011). "On the existence of symplectic realizations". J. Symplectic Geom. 9 (4): 435–444.
5. ^ Karasev, M. (1987). "Analogues of objects of Lie group theory for nonlinear Poisson brackets". Math. USSR Izv. 28: 497–527.
6. ^ Weinstein, A. (1983). "The local structure of Poisson manifolds". J. Diff. Geom. 18 (3): 523–557.

## References

• Bhaskara, K. H.; Viswanath, K. (1988). Poisson algebras and Poisson manifolds. Longman. ISBN 0-582-01989-3.
• Cannas da Silva, A.; Weinstein, A. (1999). Geometric models for noncommutative algebras. AMS Berkeley Mathematics Lecture Notes, 10.
• Crainic, M.; Fernandes, R.L. (2004). "Integrability of Poisson Brackets". J. Diff. Geom. 66 (1): 71–137.
• Crainic, M.; Marcut, I. (2011). "On the existence of symplectic realizations". J. Symplectic Geom. 9 (4): 435–444.
• Dufour, J.-P.; Zung, N.T. (2005). Poisson Structures and Their Normal Forms. 242. Birkhäuser Progress in Mathematics.
• Fernandes, R.L.; Marcut, I. (2014). Lectures on Poisson Geometry. Yet unpublished lecture notes.[2]
• Guillemin, V.; Sternberg, S. (1984). Symplectic Techniques in Physics. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0-521-24866-3.
• Karasev, M. (1987). "Analogues of objects of Lie group theory for nonlinear Poisson brackets". Math. USSR Izv. 28: 497–527.
• Kirillov, A. A. (1976). "Local Lie algebras". Russ. Math. Surv. 31 (4): 55–75. doi:10.1070/RM1976v031n04ABEH001556.
• Libermann, P.; Marle, C.-M. (1987). Symplectic geometry and analytical mechanics. Dordrecht: Reidel. ISBN 90-277-2438-5.
• Lichnerowicz, A. (1977). "Les variétés de Poisson et leurs algèbres de Lie associées". J. Diff. Geom. 12 (2): 253–300. MR 0501133.
• Marcut, I. (2013). Normal forms in Poisson geometry. PhD Thesis: Utrecht University. Available at thesis
• Vaisman, I. (1994). Lectures on the Geometry of Poisson Manifolds. Birkhäuser. See also the review by Ping Xu in the Bulletin of the AMS.
• Weinstein, A. (1983). "The local structure of Poisson manifolds". J. Diff. Geom. 18 (3): 523–557.
• Weinstein, A. (1998). "Poisson geometry". Differential Geometry and its Applications. 9 (1-2): 213–238.