Principal bundle of smooth manifolds

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1 Definition

A G-principal bundle for a Lie group G is a smooth bundle \pi : F \to M where G acts on F from the right, the action is free (that is [fg = f for some f\in F \Rightarrow g = e]), and the G-orbits are the fibres, fG = F_p := \pi^{-1}(\pi(f)) for every f\in F. Then the mapping \phi_f : G \to F_p, \phi_p(g) = pg is a diffeomorphism which is equivariant with respect to the action of G on itself by right translations. The tangent space of the fibre, T_fF_f is called the vertical space; by means of the differential (d\phi_f)_e : T_eG \to T_fF_f it can be identified with the Lie algebra \frak{g} = T_gG. The vertical spaces together form an integrable distribution \mathcal{V} \subset TF on F, the vertical distribution.

If E_o is any G-space, i.e. a manifold on which G acts from the left, we have a free G-action on F \times E_o given by g(f,x) := (fg^{-1},gx). Then the orbit space E = (F \times E_o)/G is a bundle over M with fibres diffeomorphic to E_o; it is called an associated bundle to the principal bundle F. In particular, if E_o is a vector space and the G-action on E_o is linear (a representation of G), then E is a vector bundle over M, associated to the principal bundle F.

2 References

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