Questions tagged [principal-bundles]

A principal $G$-bundle, where $G$ denotes any topological group, is a fiber bundle $\pi :P → X$ together with a continuous right action $P × G → P$ such that $G$ preserves the fibers of $P$ and acts freely and transitively on them.

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A geometric interpretation of the Levi-Civita connection?

Let $M$ be a Riemannian manifold. There exists a unique torsion-free connection in the (co)tangent bundle of $M$ such that the metric of $M$ is covariantly constant. This connection is called the Levi-...
algori's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
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Adelic description of moduli of $G$-bundles on a curve

Let $X$ be a smooth, projective, geometrically connected curve over a field $k$ and $G$ an an affine algebraic group group over $k$ (we can put more hypotheses on $G$ if necessary). If $K$ denotes the ...
Justin Campbell's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

Representations of \pi_1, G-bundles, Classifying Spaces

This question is inspired by a statement of Atiyah's in "Geometry and Physics of Knots" on page 24 (chapter 3 - Non-abelian moduli spaces). Here he says that for a Riemann surface $\Sigma$ the first ...
Justin Curry's user avatar
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42 votes
5 answers
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How are the classifying space of $E_8$ and $K(\mathbb{Z},4)$ related?

I recently heard the following fact : Up to the $15$th skeleton, the classifying space $BE_8$ and $K(\mathbb{Z},4)$ are homotopy equivalent? I have two questions on this : (1) Is there any easy way ...
Somnath Basu's user avatar
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26 votes
1 answer
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Are there "principal" bundles $S^1 \to S^3 \to S^2$ other then Hopf's? (They would be necessarily not locally trivial)

It is well known that the only principal locally trivial fiber bundle $S^1 \to S^3 \to S^2$ is Hopf map $h$ (see, for example, [1]). What if we drop the local triviality but mantain a "principality" ...
Lucas Seco's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
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Mednykh's formula for 2d manifold with boundaries? How to count principal G-bundles with prescribed holonomies?

Let S be a closed, orientable 2d manifold and G a finite group. Since a principal G-bundle over S is specified by maps $\phi : \pi_1(S) \rightarrow G$ modulo the adjoint action by G, the way to count ...
Jordan's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
695 views

Are there principal $G$-bundles whose holonomy group is $G$?

While studying universal constructions on principal bundles, I've stuck on a quite a basic question, namely: Given a Lie group $G$, does there exist a principal $G$-bundle $\pi \colon P \to B$, for ...
José Navarro's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Classification of bundles, Postnikov towers, obstruction theory, local coefficients

RECAP on classification of bundles We want to classify $G$-principal bundles over $X$ (smooth manifold, G compact Lie). These are in 1-1 correspondence with homotopy classes of maps $[X,BG]$ (where $...
Overflowian's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
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Generalising the Penrose Twistor Fibration

As is well known, there exists a fibration $\mathbb{CP}^3 \to S^4$, of the four sphere by complex projective $3$-space, called the Penrose twistor fibration. Does this fibration admit a "canonical" ...
Andrea Pena's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
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Atiyah Sequence and Connections on a Principal Bundle

Let $G$ be a Lie group and $\pi:E_G\rightarrow M $ be a principal $G$-bundle. I have seen in many places that a connection on $(E_G,M,G)$ is a splitting of the Atiyah sequence $$ 0\rightarrow \text{...
Praphulla Koushik's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
600 views

Classifying spaces of topological groups that are not well-pointed

Let $G$ be a topological group. The geometric bar construction $BG = B_{\bullet}(pt, G, pt)$ together with $EG = B_{\bullet}(pt,G,G)$ and the map $EG \to BG$ yields the universal principal $G$-bundle ...
Ulrich Pennig's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

How many principal bundles are there over a given base?

I'm currently considering principal bundles and classifying spaces in the context of gauge theory and a crucial question came to my mind: Is there a way to say how many (isomorphism classes of) ...
Frank's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
501 views

Numerable covers from the point of view of Grothendieck topologies

Let $G$ be a topological group. Recall that its classifying space $BG$ is a CW-complex which is the base of a locally trivial principal bundle of group $G$, with contractible total space $EG$. It ...
ACL's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
375 views

In what sense bibundles are called as generalized morphisms

Definition : Let $\mathcal{G}$ and $\mathcal{H}$ be Lie groupoids. A bibundle from $\mathcal{G}$ to $\mathcal{H}$ is a manifold $P$ together with two maps $a_L:P\rightarrow \mathcal{G}_0,a_R:P\...
Praphulla Koushik's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
96 views

Dot product of functions on cosets

Some time ago I asked this same question at Math Stackexchange, because I thought that the question is nearly elementary. To my surprise, it was never answered. So I am elevating it to MathOverflow. I ...
Michael_1812's user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
3k views

Nontrivial examples of non-trivial principal circle bundles

It is a well known fact that (isomorphism classes of) principal $S^1$-bundles over a base space $B$ are classified by $B$'s second integral cohomology, $H^2(B;\mathbb{Z})$. There is always the ...
Shlomi A's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
2k views

Alternative (easier) Proof of Ambrose Singer Holonomy theorem

Let $P(M,G)$ be a principal bundle. Giving a connection on $P(M,G)$ means two equivalent things. One as an assignment of subspace of $T_pP$ for each $p\in P$ and another as a $\mathfrak{g}$ valued $1$ ...
Praphulla Koushik's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
420 views

Classifying spaces and Brown's representability theorem

Let $G\text{-}PF(X)$ be the set of isomorphism classes of principal topological fibrations over the space $X$ with structural group $G$, and $G\text{-}PF_{cw} : hCW \to Set$ the contravariant functor $...
ychemama's user avatar
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2 votes
5 answers
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On the definition of fundamental vector field

I've encountered with following question while reading Morita's book "Geometry of Differential Forms" (pp.263) Let $(P,\pi,M,G)$ be a principal G-bundle, $\mathfrak{g}$ be the Lie algebra of the Lie ...
C Weid's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
540 views

On prequantization bundles over integral symplectic manifolds

I am trying to clarify certain subtleties regarding prequantization bundles over symplectic manifolds, for which I haven't found any clear explanation so far. Let me fix some definitions first. ...
BrianT's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
173 views

Confusion in understanding the notion of $G$ Principal bundle where $G$ is a geometric group over a site

The first paragraph of the section Overview in the paper Principal infinity-bundles - General theory by Nikolaus, Schreiber and Stevenson https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.0248 precisely reads the following: ...
Adittya Chaudhuri's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
944 views

Notion of Torsors

I am trying to read this paper by Lawrence Breen. It starts with the definition of a torsor. Let $G$ be a bundle of groups on a space $X$. The following definition of a principal space is standard, ...
Praphulla Koushik's user avatar