where Tx(M) denotes the tangent space to M at x. Thus, elements of UT(M) can be viewed as pairs (x, v), where x is some point of the manifold and v is some tangent direction (of unit length) to the manifold at x. The unit tangent bundle is equipped with a natural projection
which takes each point of the bundle to its base point.
If M is a finite-dimensional manifold of dimension n, then the fiber π−1(x) over a point x ∈ M is an (n−1)-sphere Sn−1, so the unit tangent bundle is a sphere bundle over M with fiber Sn−1. More precisely, the unit tangent bundle UT(M) is the unit sphere bundle for the tangent bundle T(M).
If M is an infinite-dimensional manifold (for example, a Banach, Fréchet or Hilbert manifold), then UT(M) can still be thought of as the unit sphere bundle for the tangent bundle T(M), but the fibre π−1(x) over x is then an infinite-dimensional sphere, and is certainly no longer a finite-dimensional sphere of dimension one less than that of M.
Since a Riemannian manifold (M, g) is also a Finsler manifold with respect to the usual induced norm
the unit tangent bundle UT(M) is also defined for Riemannian manifolds.
The unit tangent bundle is useful in the study of the geodesic flow.
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Last updated on Wednesday June 06, 2007 at 13:08:20 PDT (GMT -0700)
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