Given a manifold of dimension n, a parallelization of is a set of n smooth vector fields defined on all of such that for every the set is a basis of , where denotes the fiber over of the tangent vector bundle.
A manifold is called parallelizable whenever it admits a parallelization.
The product of parallelizable manifolds is parallelizable.
Every affine space, considered as manifold, is parallelizable.
Propertiesedit
Proposition. A manifold is parallelizable iff there is a diffeomorphism such that the first projection of is and for each the second factor—restricted to —is a linear map .
In other words, is parallelizable if and only if is a trivial bundle. For example, suppose that is an open subset of , i.e., an open submanifold of . Then is equal to , and is clearly parallelizable.[2]