Carathéodory–Jacobi–Lie theorem

Let M be a 2n-dimensional symplectic manifold with symplectic form ω. For p ∈ M and r ≤ n, let f₁, f₂, ..., f_r be smooth functions defined on an open neighborhood V of p whose differentials are linearly independent at each point, or equivalently

${\displaystyle df_{1}(p)\wedge \ldots \wedge df_{r}(p)\neq 0,}$

where {f_i, f_j} = 0. (In other words, they are pairwise in involution.) Here {–,–} is the Poisson bracket. Then there are functions f_r+1, ..., f_n, g₁, g₂, ..., g_n defined on an open neighborhood U ⊂ V of p such that (f_i, g_i) is a symplectic chart of M, i.e., ω is expressed on U as

${\displaystyle \omega =\sum _{i=1}^{n}df_{i}\wedge dg_{i}.}$

As a direct application we have the following. Given a Hamiltonian system as ${\displaystyle (M,\omega ,H)}$ where M is a symplectic manifold with symplectic form ${\displaystyle \omega }$ and H is the Hamiltonian function, around every point where ${\displaystyle dH\neq 0}$ there is a symplectic chart such that one of its coordinates is H.

• Lee, John M., Introduction to Smooth Manifolds, Springer-Verlag, New York (2003) ISBN 0-387-95495-3. Graduate-level textbook on smooth manifolds.