Under the World Tree

Symplectic Structure on Varieties

Posted: February 23, 2026 | Updated: September 11, 2026

Let XX be a variety. A symplectic structure on a holomorphic manifold/algebraic variety is a nondegenerate 2-form ωΓ(X,ΩX2)\omega \in \Gamma(X, \Omega^2_{X}) (where ΩX2\Omega^2_X is the sheaf of holomorphic or algebraic 2-forms on XX) satisfying dω=0d\omega = 0.

Example: Let MM be a manifold, X=TMX = T^*M its cotangent bundle. We construct a symplectic form ω\omega as dλd\lambda for some λ:TXC\lambda : TX \to \mathbb{C}, which ensures dω=0d\omega = 0.
Let xMx \in M and αXx\alpha \in X_x, the fibre over xx. The projection map π:XM\pi : X \to M induces a tangent map π:TαXTxM\pi_{*} : T_\alpha X \to T_x M , and we define λ\lambda by setting

λ(ξ)=α(πξ),where ξTα(X).\lambda(\xi) = \alpha(\pi_{*}\xi), \text{where } \xi \in T_{\alpha}(X).

In this description we can see naturality of λ\lambda, but for nondegeneracy and understanding how to evaluate the form an expression in coordinates is preferable. Let q1,,qnq_1, \dots, q_{n} be local coordinates on MM, and let p1,,pnp_1, \dots, p_{n} be the corresponding dual coordinates on TMT^*M, so that pi(qi)=δijp_{i}\left( \frac{\partial}{\partial q_{i}} \right) = \delta_{ij} and (q1,,qn,p1,,pn)(q_{1}, \dots, q_{n}, p_{1}, \dots, p_{n}) gives coordinates for XX. Then elements of the tangent space TXTX have the form

ξ=i=1nbiqi(α,x)+cipi(α,x)\xi = \sum_{i=1}^n b_{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_{i}}(\alpha, x) + c_{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial p_{i}}(\alpha, x)

with bi,ciCb_i, c_i \in \mathbb{C} and (x,α)X(x, \alpha) \in X (so xM,αTxMx \in M, \alpha \in T^*_xM). The map π\pi projects onto the qq-coordinates, so the corresponding tangent map does the same:

π(i=1nbiqi(x,α)+cipi(x,α))=i=1nbiqi(x,α).\pi_{*}\left( \sum_{i=1}^n b_{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_{i}}(x, \alpha) + c_{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial p_{i}}(x, \alpha) \right) = \sum_{i=1}^n b_{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_{i}}(x, \alpha).

Now we can calculate

λ(ξ)=α(i=1nbiqi(x,α))=i=1npi(α)pi(j=1nbiqi(x,α))=i=1nbipi(α)\begin{aligned} \lambda(\xi) = \alpha\left( \sum_{i=1}^n b_{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_{i}}(x, \alpha) \right) &= \sum_{i=1}^n p_{i}(\alpha)p_{i}\left( \sum_{j=1}^n b_{i}\frac{\partial }{\partial q_{i}}(x, \alpha) \right) \\ &= \sum_{i=1}^n b_{i}p_{i}(\alpha) \end{aligned}

using our dual coordinates, which identifies λ\lambda with ipi dqi\sum_{i} p_{i} \ \mathrm{d} q_{i} and hence ω\omega with idpidqi.\sum_{i} \mathrm{d}p_{i} \wedge \mathrm{d}q_{i}. Now XX, being a holomorphic manifold, is locally isomorphic to C2n\mathbb{C}^{2n} and the local form of ω\omega is nondegenerate here:

ω(ei,ej)=12idpi(ei)dqi(ej)={1, j=i+n1, i=j+n0, else,\omega(e_i, e_j) = \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i}\mathrm{d}p_{i}(e_{i})\wedge \mathrm{d}q_{i}(e_{j}) = \begin{cases}1, \ j = i + n \\ -1, \ i = j + n\\ 0, \text{ else} \end{cases},

in the standard basis for TC2nT^*\mathbb{C}^{2n}, giving block matrix form

ω=(0InIn0).\omega = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & I_{n} \\ -I_{n} & 0 \end{pmatrix}.

Hence we have a symplectic form on TMT^*M for for any holomorphic manifold, agreeing in local coordinates with the canonical symplectic form on C2n\mathbb{C}^{2n}.

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Written by Corey Lionis, denizen of the world-tree hollow.