Levi-Civita connections and vector fields for noncommutative differential calculi

Abstract

We study covariant derivatives on a class of centered bimodules [Formula: see text] over an algebra [Formula: see text] We begin by identifying a [Formula: see text]-submodule [Formula: see text] which can be viewed as the analogue of vector fields in this context; [Formula: see text] is proven to be a Lie algebra. Connections on [Formula: see text] are in one-to-one correspondence with covariant derivatives on [Formula: see text]. We recover the classical formulas of torsion and metric compatibility of a connection in the covariant derivative form. As a result, a Koszul formula for the Levi-Civita connection is also derived.