Integrability Conditions For Differential Systems - Example of A Non-integrable System

Example of A Non-integrable System

Not every Pfaffian system is completely integrable in the Frobenius sense. For example, consider the following one-form on R3 - (0,0,0)

If dθ were in the ideal generated by θ we would have, by the skewness of the wedge product

But a direct calculation gives

which is a nonzero multiple of the standard volume form on R3. Therefore, there are no two-dimensional leaves, and the system is not completely integrable.

On the other hand, the curve defined by

is easily verified to be a solution (i.e. an integral curve) for the above Pfaffian system for any nonzero constant c.

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