THE DE RHAM COHOMOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS

SHIBO DAI

Abstract. This paper is devoted to several commonly used homology and cohomology
theories, as well as an important result which links them together – the de Rham theorem.
We introduce singular homology, singular cohomology as well as de Rham cohomology
in the first few sections. Then we state and prove the de Rham theorem. Finally, an
application of the de Rham theorem will be provided.

1. Introduction
The primary idea behind (co)homology is trying to identify “n-dimensional holes” in a
topological space. Common examples are the hole in the center of a torus and the inside of
a hollow sphere. Holes are interesting to measure because the mechanisms used to measure
them, their homology and cohomology groups, are algebraic topological invariants.
There are two different ways to do this: singular homology and de Rham cohomology.
Singular homology groups are the quotients of the groups of “closed singular chains” and
“boundary singular chains”. Closed chains are chains sent to zero by the boundary operator.
Boundary chains are singular chains which are obtained by applying the boundary operator
to other chains, and are a subgroup of closed chains. De Rham cohomology groups are the
quotient of the groups of “closed forms” and “exact forms”. Closed forms are differential
forms whose exterior derivative is zero. Exact forms are differential forms which are obtained
by applying the exterior derivative to other forms and are a subgroup of closed forms.
While the methods are different, they have a similar logic behind them. The de Rham
Theorem proves an isomorphism between singular cohomology groups, the dual of the sin-
gular homology groups, and the de Rham cohomology groups.
Finally, in section 6 an application of the de Rham theorem is given.

2. Singular homology
This first section will be concerned with developing the theory of singular homology. To
begin, we define the p-simplex.
Definition 2.1. A (geometric) p-simplex is a subset of Rn of the form
∑p ∑
p
{ ti vi : 0 ≤ ti ≤ 1, ti = 1}.
i=0 i=0

Where {v0 , v1 , · · · , vp } are p + 1 affinely independent points in Rn . We use [v0 , v1 , · · · , vp ]

to denote the p-simplex with vertices v0 , v1 , · · · , vp .
The dimension of the simplex is defined as the integer p. ∆p := [0, e1 , · · · , ep ] ⊂ Rk is
called the standard p-simplex, where ei is the i-th standard basis vector of Rp+1 .
Definition 2.2. A simplex whose vertices are a nonempty subset of the vertices
{v0 , v1 , · · · , vp }
is called a face of the simplex [v0 , v1 , · · · , vp ]. Subsets with m + 1 vertices are m-simplices.
(p − 1)-dimensional faces are the boundary faces.
Having defined the p-simplex, we will now turn our attention to how it can be used in
relation to topological spaces, specifically through the creation of the singular p-simplex.

Date: Nov., 2023.

Key words and phrases. Differential geometry.
1
2 SHIBO DAI

Definition 2.3. For a topological space X, a singular p-simplex in X is a continuous map

σ : ∆p → X.

Definition 2.4. The free abelian group generated by all singular p-simplices in X, denoted
as Cp (X), is called the singular chain group of X in degree ∑
p. An element in Cp (X) is called
a singular p-chain. It is a finite formal linear combination i ai σi , where ai ∈ Z.

We now turn our attention to the boundary operator, which decomposes p-simplices into
a sum of its (p − 1)-faces.

Definition 2.5. The boundary operator ∂p : Cp → Cp−1 is defined as

∑
p
∂p σ = (−1)i σ|[v0 ,··· ,vi−1 ,vi+1 ,··· ,vp ] .
i=0

Where σ|[v0 ,··· ,vi−1 ,vi+1 ,··· ,vp ] is the restriction of σ to [v0 , · · · , vi−1 , vi+1 , · · · , vp ].

We have the following proposition

Proposition 2.6. For any p-chain, the boundary of its boundary is trivial, or ∂(∂σ) = 0.

Definition 2.7. A singular p-chain c is called a cycle if ∂c = 0, and a boundary if c = ∂b

for some singular (p + 1)-chain b. Let Zp (M ) denote the set of singular p-cycles in M ;
and Bp (M ) the set of singular p-boundaries. Because ∂ is a homomorphism, Zp (M ) and
Bp (M ) are subgroups of Cp (M ), and because ∂ 2 = 0, they satisfy Bp (M ) ⊆ Zp (M ). The
pth singular homology group of M is the quotient group

Zp (M )
Hp (M ) = .
Bp (M )

To put it another way, the sequence of abelian groups and homomorphisms

··· Cp+1 (M ) Cp (M ) Cp−1 (M ) ···

is a complex, called the singular chain complex, and Hp (M ) is the pth homology group of
this complex. The equivalence class in Hp (M ) of a singular p-cycle c is called its homology
class, and is denoted by [c]. We say that two p-cycles are homologous if they differ by a
boundary.
A continuous map F : M → N induces a homomorphism F# : Cp (M ) → Cp (N ) on each
singular chain group, defined by F# (σ) = F ◦ σ for any singular simplex σ and extended
linearly to chains. An easy computation shows that F# ◦ ∂ = ∂ ◦ F# , so F# is a chain
map, and therefore induces a homomorphism on the singular homology groups, denoted by
F∗ : Hp (M ) → Hp (N ). It is immediate that (G ◦ F )∗ = G∗ ◦ F∗ and (IdM )∗ = IdHp (M ) , so
pth singular homology defines a covariant functor from the category of topological spaces
and continuous maps to the category of abelian groups and homomorphisms. In particular,
homeomorphic spaces have isomorphic singular homology groups.
We will now give some important properties of the singular homology group.

Proposition 2.8. (Properties of Singular Homology Groups).

(1) For any one-point space {q}, H0 ({q}) is the infinite cyclic group generated by the
homology class of the unique singular 0-simplex mapping 0 to q, and Hp ({q}) = 0
for all p ̸= 0. ⨿
(2) Let {Mj } be any collection of topological spaces, and let M = j Mj . The inclusion
maps ℓj : Mj → M induce an isomorphism Hp (M ) ∼ = ⊕j Hp (Mj ).
(3) Homotopy equivalent spaces have isomorphic singular homology groups.

In addition to the properties above, singular homology satisfies the following version of
the Mayer-Vietoris theorem. Suppose M is a topological space and U, V ⊆ M are open
 THE DE RHAM COHOMOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS 3

subsets whose union is M . The inclusions induce homology homomorphisms:

Hp (U )
i∗ k∗

Hp (U ∩ V ) Hp (M )

j∗ l∗
Hp (V )
Theorem 2.9. (Mayer-Vietoris for Singular Homology). Let M be a topological space
and let U, V be open subsets of M whose union is M . For each p there is a connecting
homomorphism ∂∗ Hp (M ) → Hp−1 (U ∩ V ) such that the following sequence is exact:
∂∗ α β
··· Hp (U ∩ V ) Hp (U ) ⊕ Hp (V ) Hp (M )

∂∗ α
Hp−1 (U ∩ V ) ···
where
α[c] = (i∗ [c], −j∗ [c]), β([c], [c′ ]) = k∗ [c] + l∗ [c′ ],
and ∂∗ [e] = [c], provided there exist f ∈ Cp (U ) and f ′ ∈ Cp (V ) such that k# f + l# f ′ is
homologous to e and (i# c, −j# c) = (∂f, ∂f ′ ).

3. Singular Cohomology and Smooth Singular Homology

Definition 3.1. Let G be an abelian group. Consider C p (X; G) = Hom(Cp (X); G), which
is called the group of singular p-cochains with coefficients in G. The differential map
δp : C p (X; G) → C p+1 (X; G) is dual to the boundary operator ∂p on chains. The spaces
of singular cochains and δ form a cochain complex. The pth singular cohomology group is
defined as H p (X; G) = Ker(δp )/Im(δp+1 ).
When G = R, H p (X; G) is naturally isomorphic to Hom(Hp (X), R). So from now we just
take Hom(Hp (X), R) as the definition of H p (X; R).
Any continuous map F : M → N induces a linear map F ∗ : H p (N ; R) → H p (M ; R),
defined by (F ∗ γ)[c] = γ(F∗ [c]) for each γ ∈ H p (N ; R) and each singular p-chain c in
M . The functorial properties of F∗ carry over to cohomology: (G ◦ F )∗ = F ∗ ◦ G∗ and
(IdM )∗ = IdH p (M ;R) . It follows that pth singular cohomology with coefficients in R defines
a contravariant functor from the topological category to the category of real vector spaces
and linear maps.
Proposition 3.2. Properties of Singular Cohomology:
(1) For a single point {q}, H p ({q}; R) is one dimensional when p = 0 and trivial when
p ̸= 0. ⨿
(2) If {Mj } is any collection of topological spaces and M = j Mj , then the inclusion
⨿
map ℓj : Mj → M induces an isomorphism H p (M ; R) ∼ = j H p (Mj ; R).
(3) Homotopy equivalent spaces have isomorphic singular cohomology groups.
The key fact about the singular cohomology groups that we need is that they, too, satisfy
a Mayer-Vietoris theorem.
Theorem 3.3. (Mayer-Vietoris for Singular Cohomology). Suppose M, U , and V satisfy
the hypotheses of Theorem 2.9. The following sequence is exact:
∂∗ k∗ ⊕l∗ i∗ −j ∗
··· H p (M ; R) H p (U ; R) ⊕ H p (V ; R) H p (U ∩ V ; R)

∂∗ k∗ ⊕l∗
H p+1 (M ; R) ···
where the maps k ∗ ⊕ l∗ and i∗ − j ∗ are defined by
(k ∗ ⊕ l∗ )ω = (k ∗ ω, l∗ ω),
4 SHIBO DAI

(i∗ − j ∗ )(ω, η) = i∗ ω − j ∗ η,
and ∂ ∗ is defined by ∂ ∗ (γ) = γ ◦ ∂∗ with ∂∗ as in Theorem 2.7.
We will now begin to define smooth singular homology, which will correspond closely with
our original definitions of singular homology.
Definition 3.4. For a smooth manifold M , a smooth p-simplex in M is defined to be a
smooth map σ : ∆p → M .
Definition 3.5. The smooth chain group in degree p is denoted as Cp∞ (M ) ⊆ Cp (M ).
Elements in the group, which are called smooth chains, are finite formal linear combinations
of smooth p-simplices.
Note that the boundary of a smooth simplex is a smooth chain, we now define
Definition 3.6. The pth smooth singular homology group of M is defined as
Ker(∂p : Cp∞ (M ) → Cp−1
∞
(M ))
Hp∞ (M ) = ∞ .
Im(∂p+1 : Cp+1 (M ) → Cp∞ (M ))
Where the boundary operator is the same as defined in Definition 2.5 as Cp∞ (M ) ⊆ Cp (M ).
Theorem 3.7. For a smooth manifold M , the map ℓ∗ : Hp∞ (M ) → Hp (M ), which is induced
by inclusion, is an isomorphism.

4. Exterior Differentiation and De Rham Cohomology

Before defining it on manifolds, we will define the exterior derivative on Euclidean spaces.
Definition 4.1. Consider a smooth differential k-form ω = ωI dxI on an open subset U ⊆
Rn . dxI refers to dxi1 ∧ dxi2 ∧ · · · ∧ dxik for a multi-index I = (i1 , · · · , ik ). The exterior
derivative of ω is defined as
∑ ∑ ∑ ∂ωI
dω = dωI dxI = j
dxj ∧ dxI ,
j
∂x
I I

where j iterates {1, · · · , n}.

Definition 4.2. A differential form ω is closed if dω = 0.
Definition 4.3. A differential form ω is exact if there exists a (k − 1)-form η such that
ω = dη.
Now, some important properties of the exterior derivative will be proven.
Proposition 4.4. Consider a smooth k-form ω and smooth l-form η on an open subset of
U ⊆ Rn . The following property holds:
d(ω ∧ η) = dω ∧ η + (−1)k ω ∧ dη.
This is the product rule for the exterior derivative.
Proposition 4.5. Every exact form is closed. In another word, d2 = 0.
Moreover, from the definition of the exterior derivative one can easily verify the following:
Proposition 4.6. For a vector field X on U and f ∈ C ∞ (U ), we have (df )(X) = Xf .
In fact, the exterior derivative on U can be characterized uniquely by the three previous
properties. To be more concrete, we have the following proposition:
Proposition 4.7. Let D : Ω∗ (U ) → Ω∗ (U ) be a linear map satisfying:
(1) D(ω ∧ η) = Dω ∧ η + (−1)k ω ∧ Dη, where k is the degree of the form ω;
(2) D2 = 0;
(3) For a vector field X on U and f ∈ C ∞ (U ), we have (Df )(X) = Xf .
Then D ≡ d on U .
Now we can expand our horizon to arbitrary smooth manifolds instead of Euclidean
spaces. There is a generalization of the exterior derivative on smooth manifolds:
 THE DE RHAM COHOMOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS 5

Theorem 4.8. Let M be a smooth manifold, with or without boundary. Let Ωk (M ) denote
the vector space of smooth k-forms for M . There exists a R-linear map d : Ωk (M ) →
Ωk+1 (M ) such that the following properties hold:
(1) d(ω ∧ η) = dω ∧ η + (−1)k ω ∧ dη.
(2) d2 = 0.
This is the exterior derivative on smooth manifolds.
One can also prove that the exterior derivative on manifolds is unique.
Definition 4.9. Let M be a smooth manifold with or without boundary, and let k ∈ Z≥0 .
The exterior derivative d : Ωk (M ) → Ωk+1 (M ) is R-linear, so its subspaces are also R-linear.
Thus, define
Z k (M ) = Ker(d : Ωk (M ) → Ωk+1 (M )),
B k (M ) = Im(d : Ωk−1 (M ) → Ωk (M )).
If k > dim(M ) or k < 0, then Ωk is the zero vector space.
We now define the de Rham cohmology groups.
Definition 4.10. The kth de Rham cohomology group of M is defined to be
k
HdR (M ) = Z k (M )/B k (M ).
We now prove an important result about de Rham cohomology groups.
Proposition 4.11.
⨿ For a countable collection of smooth k-manifolds
∏ {Mj } with or without
k k
boundary, M = j Mj . There exists an isomorphism from j HdR (Mj ) to HdR (M ), which
is induced by the inclusion maps ℓj : Mj → M .
Proof. The pullback of the inclusion maps ℓ∗j : Ωk (M ) → Ωk (Mj ) induce an isomorphism
∏
from Ωk (M ) to J Ωk (Mj ), sending ω to (ℓ∗1 ω, ℓ∗2 ω, · · · ) = (ω|M1 , ωM2 , · · · ). If a smooth k-
form is zero on each Mj , then it is zero on M , so the map is injective. The map is surjective
because defining a k-form on each Mj defines a k-form on M . By passing to quotients we
obtain an isomorphism on de Rham cohomology groups. This must be countable because
smooth manifolds are second-countable. Thus, in order for M to be smooth, it must be
second countable, which is only accomplished when Mj is countable. □

5. The de Rham Theorem

We now build up some necessary results to prove the de Rham theorem.
First, we introduce an important tool for proving isomorphisms of (co)homology theories.
Lemma 5.1. The Five Lemma:
f1 f2 f3 f4
A B C D E
h1 h2 h3 h4 h5
g1 g2 g3 g4
A′ B′ C′ D′ E′
If the diagram is commutative, the horizontal rows are exact, and h5 are isomorphisms, then
h3 is also an isomorphism.
Now, we will introduce a variant of Stokes’ Theorem for differential forms, Stokes’ The-
orem for Chains. Recall that the original Stokes’ Theorem is
Theorem 5.2. Let M be an oriented smooth manifold of dimension n, with boundary ∂M .
Let ω be a compactly supported smooth (n − 1)-form on M . Then we have
∫ ∫
dω = ω.
M ∂M

Definition 5.3. For a smooth manifold M , a smooth differential k-form ω, and a smooth
k-simplex σ, the integral of ω over σ is defined as
∫ ∫
ω= σ ∗ ω.
σ ∆k
6 SHIBO DAI

∑
Additionally, for a smooth k-chain c = i c i σi ,the integral of ω over c is defined to be
∫ ∑ ∫
ω= ci ω.
c i σi

Theorem 5.4. (Stokes’ Theorem for Chains). For a smooth k-chain c in a smooth manifold
M and a smooth (k − 1)-form ω on M ,
∫ ∫
dω = ω.
c ∂c

Finally, we will develop the core construction in Bredon’s proof of the de Rham theorem,
which bridges the de Rham cohomology and singular homology explicitly.
Definition 5.5. A linear map ℓ : HdR k
(M ) → H k (M ; R) is defined such that for any
[ω] ∈ HdR (M ) and [c] ∈ Hk (M ) ∼
k ∞
= Hk (M ),
∫
ℓ[ω][c] = ω.
c̃
Where c̃ is a smooth k-cycle that represents the homology class [c]. This is called the de
Rham homomorphism.
Proposition 5.6. The de Rham homomorphism is well-defined.
Proposition 5.7. (Naturality of the de Rham homomorphism). Let M, N be smooth man-
ifolds and k be a non-negative integer.
(1) For a smooth map F : M → N , the diagram commutes:
p F∗ p
HdR (N ) HdR (M )
ℓ ℓ
F∗
H (N ; R)
p
H (M ; R)
p

(2) For open subsets U, V ⊆ M with U ∪ V = M ,the diagram commutes:

p−1 δ p
HdR (U ∩ V ) HdR (M )
ℓ ℓ
∂∗
H p−1
(U ∩ V ; R) H (M ; R)
p

where δ is the connecting homomorphism of the Mayer-Vietoris sequences for de

Rham cohomology while ∂ ∗ is it for singular cohomology.
Proof. (1) By definition, for a smooth p-simplex in M , σ, and a smooth p-form on N ,
ω, the following holds:
∫ ∫ ∫ ∫
F ∗ω = σ∗ F ∗ ω = (F ◦ σ)∗ ω = ω.
σ ∆p ∆p F ◦σ
Which means that
ℓ(F ∗ [ω])[σ] = ℓ([ω])[F ◦ σ] = ℓ([ω])(F ∗ [σ]) = F ∗ (ℓ[ω])[σ].
Thus the diagram commutes.
(2) Commutativity of this diagram means
ℓ(δ[ω])[e] = (∂ ∗ ℓ[ω])[e]
p−1
for any [ω] ∈ HdR (U ∩ V ) and for any [e] ∈ Hp (M ). Since Hom(Hp (M ), R) ∼
=
H (M ; R), we can rewrite this as
p

ℓ(δ[ω])[e] = ℓ([ω])(∂∗ [e]).

If σ is a smooth p-form representing
∫ ∫ δ[ω] and c is a smooth (p-1)-chain representing
∂∗ [e], this is the same as e σ = c ω. By the characterization of ∂∗ given in Theorem
2.7, we can let c = ∂f , where f, f ′ are smooth p-chains in U and V , respectively,
such that f + f ′ represents the same homology class as e. Similarly, we can choose
 THE DE RHAM COHOMOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS 7

η ∈ Ωp−1 (U ) and η ′ ∈ Ωp−1 (V ) such that ω = η|U ∩V − η ′ |U ∩V , and then let σ be the
p-form that is equal to dη on U and to dη ′ on V .Then, because ∂f + ∂f ′ = ∂e = 0
and dη|U ∩V − dη ′ |U ∩V = dω = 0, we have
∫ ∫ ∫ ∫ ∫ ∫
′
ω= ω= η− η = η+ η′
c ∂f ∂f ∂f ∂f ∂f ′
∫ ∫ ∫ ∫ ∫
′
= dη + dη = σ+ σ = σ.
f f′ f f′ e

Thus the diagram commutes.

□

Theorem 5.8. (The de Rham Theorem). For any smooth manifold M and nonnegative
k
integer k, the de Rham homomorphism ℓ : HdR (M ) → H k (M ; R) is an isomorphism.

Proof. Let us say that a smooth manifold M is a de Rham manifold if the homomorphism
ℓ : HdRk
(M ) → H k (M ; R) is an isomorphism for each p. Since ℓ commutes with the co-
homology maps induced by smooth maps by the proposition above, any manifold that is
diffeomorphic to a de Rham manifold is also de Rham. The theorem will be proved once we
show that every smooth manifold is de Rham.
If M is any smooth manifold, let us call an open cover {Ui } of M a de Rham cover if each
subset Ui is a de Rham manifold, and every finite intersection Ui1 ∩ · · · Uik is de Rham. A
de Rham cover that is also a basis for the topology of M is called a de Rham ⨿ basis for M .
Step 1. If {Mj } is a countable collection of de Rham manifolds, then j Mj is de Rham.
By Propositions
⨿ 3.11 and 4.2, for both de Rham and singular cohomology, the inclusions
ℓj : Mj → j Mj induce isomorphisms between the cohomology groups of the disjoint union
and the direct product of the cohomology groups of the manifolds Mj . As a⨿result of Prop
5.7, these isomorphisms commute with the de Rham homomorphism for j Mj . So the
latter is itself an isomorphism.
Step 2. Every convex open subset of Rn is de Rham. By the Poincaré Lemma of differential
forms, if k ̸= 0, then HdR k
(U ) = 0. By Proposition 4.2, the singular cohomology groups of U
are also trivial when k ̸= 0 because of the homotopy equivalence of U and a one-point space.
0
If k = 0, then HdR (U ) is the space consisting of constant functions and is one-dimensional.
Because H0 (U ) is generated by a singular 0-simplex, H 0 (U ; R) = Hom(H0 (U ); R) is one
dimensional. Let f be the constant function 1 and σ : ∆0 → M be a singular, smooth
0-simplex. Then,
∫
ℓ[f ][σ] = σ ∗ f = (f ◦ σ)(0) = 1.
∆0

Since the de Rham homomorphism is not the zero map for k = 0, it is an isomorphism.
Step 3. If M has a finite de Rham cover, then M is de Rham. Let M = ∪ki=1 Ui where
{Ui } is a finite de Rham cover. We prove the result by induction on k. For k = 1, the
result is obvious. Suppose next that M has a de Rham cover consisting of two sets {U, V }.
Putting together the Mayer-Vietoris sequences for de Rham and singular cohomology, we
obtain the following commutative diagram, in which the horizontal rows are exact and the
vertical maps are all de Rham homomorphisms:
p−1 p−1 p−1 p
HdR (U ) ⊕ HdR (V ) HdR (U ∩ V ) HdR (M )
a b c

H p−1
(U ; R) ⊕ H p−1
(V ; R) H p−1
(U ∩ V ; R) H (M ; R)
p

p p p
HdR (U ) ⊕ HdR (V ) HdR (U ∩ V )
d e

H (U ; R) ⊕ H (V ; R)
p p
H (U ∩ V ; R)
p
8 SHIBO DAI

The commutativity of the diagram is an immediate consequence of Proposition 5.7. By

hypothesis a, b, d, e are all isomorphisms, so by the five lemma, c is an isomorphism, which
proves that M is de Rham.
Now assume the claim is true for smooth manifolds admitting a de Rham cover with k ≥ 2
sets, and suppose {U1 , · · · , Uk+1 } is a de Rham cover of M. Let U = ∪ki=1 Ui and V = Uk+1 .
The hypothesis implies that U and V are de Rham, and U ∩ V is also de Rham because it
has a k-fold de Rham cover given by {U1 ∩ V, · · · , Uk ∩ V }. Therefore, M = U ∪ V is also
de Rham by the argument above.
Step 4. If M has a de Rham basis, then M is de Rham. Suppose {Uα } is a de Rham
basis for M . Let f : M → R be an exhaustion function. For each integer m, define
Am = {q ∈ M |m ≤ f (q) ≤ m + 1},
1 3
A′m = {q ∈ M |m − < f (q) < m + }.
2 2
For every q ∈ Am , there is a basis open subset containing q which is contained in A′m . The
collection of these sets is an open cover of Am . Because f is an exhaustion function, Am
is compact and is covered by finitely many basis sets. Let Bm be the union of this finite
collection of sets. This is a finite de Rham cover of Bm , thus Bm is de Rham by Step 3.
Observe that Bm ⊆ A′m , so Bm can have nonempty intersection with Bm̃ only when
m̃ = m − 1, m, m + 1. Therefore, if we define
U = ∪m odd Bm , V = ∪m even Bm ,

then U and V are disjoint unions of de Rham manifolds, and so they are both de Rham by
Step 1. Finally, U ∩ V is de Rham because it is the disjoint union of the sets Bm ∩ Bm+1
for m ∈ Z, each of which has a finite de Rham cover consisting of sets of the form Uα ∩ Uβ ,
where Uα and Uβ are basis sets used to define Bm and Bm+1 , respectively. Thus M = U ∪ V
is de Rham by Step 3.
Step 5. Every open subset of Rn is de Rham. If U ⊂ Rn is such a subset, then U has a
basis consisting of Euclidean balls. Because each ball is convex, it is de Rham, and because
any finite intersection of balls is again convex, finite intersections are also de Rham. Thus,
U has a de Rham basis, so it is de Rham by Step 4.
Step 6. Every smooth manifold is de Rham. Any smooth manifold has a basis of smooth
coordinate domains. Since every smooth coordinate domain is diffeomorphic to an open
subset of Rn , as are their finite intersections, this is a de Rham basis. The claim therefore
follows from Step 4. □

6. An Application of the de Rham Theorem

Since the de Rham theorem gives an isomorphism between singular and de Rham coho-
mology, we can obtain some information about differential forms on manifolds merely from
topological data.
For example, consider the 2-torus, T 2 : we have
{
k 2 R, k = 0, 1
HdR (T ) =
R2 , k = 1.
Thus, none of the de Rham cohomology groups are 0, closed forms that are not exact exist
on T 2 .
In contrast, consider the n-sphere Sn : we have
{
k R, k = 0, n
HdR (Sn ) =
0, 0 < k < n.
Therefore all closed k-forms are exact when 0 < k < n.

References
1. John M. Lee Introduction to smooth manifolds, Springer Graguate Texts in Mathematics 218.