An -orientation of a rank- vector bundle is a coherent choice of generator in
for every fiber. Equivalently, it is a Thom class restricting to those generators. The Euler class of a vector bundle is
where forgets the subspace and is the zero section.
The Thom isomorphism theorem is
Insert these isomorphisms into the long exact cohomology sequence of and use the deformation retraction . This gives the Gysin sequence of a sphere bundle
To verify the labelled maps, represent under the Thom isomorphism by . Its image in pulls back along the zero section to
Thus multiplication by the Euler class is exactly the map from relative to absolute cohomology in the pair sequence.
Now let and let be its tubular neighborhood. The normal bundle has rank . With coefficients it is automatically oriented. Since , one has , so its Euler class lies above the dimension of and vanishes. The Gysin sequence consequently splits into short exact sequences of vector spaces and gives
On the other hand, Alexander duality gives
Over the field , the latter is naturally dual to , which expresses the complement cohomology entirely in terms of that of .