Characterization of intrinsically harmonic forms

Abstract

Let $M$ be a closed oriented manifold of dimension $n$ and $\omega$ a closed 1-form on it. We discuss the question whether there exists a Riemannian metric for which $\omega$ is co-closed. For closed 1-forms with nondegenerate zeros the question was answered completely by Calabi in 1969. The goal of this paper is to give an answer in the general case, i.e. not making any assumptions on the zero set of $\omega$.