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On a differentiable manifold $M$ there is a standard notion of zero measure sets using charts ( a set $A\subseteq M$ has zero measure if for every chart $(U,\varphi)$ $\varphi(A\cap U)$ has zero Lebesgue measure in $\mathbb{R}^n$)

Moreover if we have a volume form $\Omega$ on $M$, by the Riesz-Kakutani representation there is a unique Radon measure $\mu$ on the Borel $\sigma$-algebra on $M$ such that for all compactly supported continuous function on $M$ we have \begin{equation*} \int_M f \Omega=\int_M f \mu. \end{equation*} How can I prove that if A is a Borel set with zero measure in the chart definition then it is also $\mu(A)=0$?

Is this fact actually true? I think so but I haven't found any prof yet. I tried for example using regularity of $\mu$ and approximation of characteristic functions with bump functions...

Thank you in advance.

Sart00
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  • Yes, it's true; see Measure of null (or full) subsets of manifolds and absolute continuity of smooth measures. There I used a slightly different characterization/initial definition of the measures, but using Riesz's theorem you get the same measure so while you might have to slightly reword the argument provided there, the ideas are the same. The idea is (by second-countability) to reduce to the case where $A$ is contained in a single coordinate chart, and then use the definition of integrals of forms supported in a single chart. – peek-a-boo Sep 17 '22 at 22:07
  • Thanks for the answer. I'm struggling understanding the equality in (*). I agree on the fact that I can work locally in a chart but we have $\mu(A\cap U)=\int_U \chi_{A\cap U} d\mu$ and the characteristic functions isn't continuous so I can't translate that immediately in terms of volume form via Riesz theorem – Sart00 Sep 17 '22 at 22:19
  • This is why I was talking about approximation of characteristic functions with smooth ones in my question. – Sart00 Sep 17 '22 at 22:26
  • yes that's what I meant by 'slightly reword the argument'... which after writing out is longer than I thought it would turn out:) But yes, in general you should expect some such approximation arguments (indicators should be approximated by continuous functions). I'll leave these more general arguments to you. – peek-a-boo Sep 17 '22 at 23:31

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Here's the argument adapted to the Riesz definition of the measure. For each point $p\in A$, choose a positively oriented chart $(U_p,\alpha_p)$ such that $p\in U_p$ and $\Omega|_{U_p}=\Omega_{\alpha_p}\,dx_{\alpha_p}^1\wedge \cdots\wedge dx^n_{\alpha_p}$ for some smooth bounded positive function $\Omega_{\alpha_p}:U_p\to (0,\infty)$ (positivity is because of the positively-oriented chart, and boundedness can be assured by shrinking the set $U_p$ small enough). We can now extract a countably many such $U_p$ whose union covers $A$. Then, $\mu(A)\leq \sum\mu(U_p\cap A)$, the sum over countably many $U_p$'s. If we show each of the terms on the right vanishes, then $\mu(A)=0$.

Hence, we are now reduced to the following situation: there is a single chart $(U,\alpha)$ such that $A\subset U$, $\lambda_n(\alpha[A])=0$, $\Omega=\Omega_{\alpha}\,dx^1\wedge \cdots\wedge dx^n$ on $U$, and $\Omega_{\alpha}:U\to (0,\infty)$ is smooth, positive and bounded, say by a constant $B>0$. Now, by the regularity properties of $\mu$ (or really if you just look at the proof of Riesz's theorem), we have \begin{align} \mu(A)&=\inf_{\substack{\text{$V\subset U$ open}\\A\subset V}}\mu(V)= \inf_{\substack{\text{$V\subset U$ open}\\A\subset V}}\sup_{f\prec V}\int_M f\Omega. \end{align} So we take infimum over all open sets $V\subset U$ which contain $A$, and the supremum of the integrals over all continuous $f$ with $0\leq f\leq 1$ and $\text{supp}(f)\subset V$. Now, why did I go through all the trouble with the charts? it is so that I can now evaluate the integral on the right in a very simple manner. Recall that integrals of compactly supported continuous $n$-forms is defined by a sum involving a partition of unity; but if we have the form supported inside of a single positively-oriented coordinate chart, then the integral simplifies the most obvious thing, i.e integrate the chart-representative function \begin{align} \int_Mf\Omega&=\int_{\alpha[U]}(f\cdot\Omega_{\alpha})\circ\alpha^{-1}\,d\lambda_n. \end{align} We now use the obvious estimate $f\leq \chi_V$ and $\Omega_{\alpha}\leq B$ to get \begin{align} \int_Mf\Omega\leq \int_{\alpha[U]}(\chi_V\circ \alpha^{-1})\cdot B\,d\lambda_n=B\int_{\alpha[V]}1\,d\lambda_n=B\cdot\lambda_n(\alpha[V]). \end{align} Therefore, \begin{align} \mu(A)&\leq \inf_{\substack{\text{$V\subset U$ open}\\A\subset V}}B\lambda_n(\alpha[V])=B\cdot\inf_{\text{$V'\subset \alpha[U]$ open}\\ \alpha[A]\subset V'}\lambda_n[V']=B\cdot \lambda_n(\alpha[A])=0. \end{align} The first equality is trivial, I'm just using the homeomorphism $\alpha$ to 'transfer' sets on the manifold to $\alpha[U]$. The second equality is because the $n$-dimensional Lebesgue measure is outer-regular, and the final equality is by hypothesis on $A$. Hence, $\mu(A)=0$. This completes the proof.

peek-a-boo
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  • Thank you so much! When I have some time in the next days i will go through the details and accept your answer. – Sart00 Sep 19 '22 at 07:09