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Old April 2nd, 2009, 09:18 AM
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Default Smooth covector field on S^2

Is there a smooth covector field on {\mathbb S}^2 that is exact and vanishes at exactly one point?

I think the answer is no...
in case of exact field we have w = df for some smooth function on {\mathbb S}^2... it vanishes at some point p when partial derivatives of f at p are equal to zero (in some chart containing p).

..is it correct to say that if we consider stereographic coordinates on {\mathbb S}^2 then for any point p where w=df vanishes it will also vanish at point -p ??
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