Skip to main content

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

8
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The vector bundle $\operatorname{Sym}^2E$ is spanned by local sections which are symmetric products $u \cdot v$. Map to $(u\wedge v)^{\otimes 2}$. Extend by linearity. Is that not the sort of answer you are looking for? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 14:48
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the answer but not quite. In local coordinates write $u = ai+bj$ and $v = ci+dj$. Then $u\otimes v = ac (i\otimes i) + ad (i\otimes j) + bc (j\otimes i) + bd (j\otimes j)$, and the corresponding matrix would be $M = (m_{i,j})$ with $m_{1,1} = ac, m_{1,2} = ad, m_{2,1} = bc, m_{2,2} = bd$. Since the map I am looking for should give the determinant of the matrix it should be zero on tensors of type $u\otimes v$. Here i considered the non symmetric case but the same question make sense replacing $E\otimes E$ with $Sym^2(E)$. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 15:17
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I don't even think that there is a natural map unless you're in characteristic $2$. Otherwise, these correspond to distinct irreducible representations of $GL_2$. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 15:22
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Why is there the tensor exponent "$\otimes 2$"? The usual determinant has target $\bigwedge^2 E$, not $(\bigwedge^2 E)^{\otimes 2}$. Are you asking about the square of the determinant? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 16:41
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ The determinant of a matrix with a fixed frame depends skew-symmetrically (not symmetrically) on the frame, so the source of your map should be $\wedge^2E$. Also, as @JasonStarr explained, the target is $\wedge^2E$. So, in the end, I think you are asking about a natural map $\wedge^2E \to \wedge^2E$. And the answer to this question is, of course, the identity. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 18:24