Leibniz cohomology and the calculus of variations

A geometric interpretation of the Leibniz coboundary is given in terms of the calculus of variations. For a differentiable manifold M, Leibniz cohomology generalizes de Rham cohomology by including all tensors as cochains. When applied to two-tensors, the conditions for the vanishing of a Leibniz cochain are related to the necessary conditions to achieve an extreme value of the integral of the tensor over an immersed surface. A local formula for the coboundary of any tensor is given in terms of a coordinate chart, and the Leibniz coboundary of the Riemann curvature tensor is computed in terms of the derivative of sectional curvature.