Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2009 / iii / Paper 17 / 1 / c

Choose the smooth fiber metric supplied by part (a), and let $P_p:E_p\to F_p$ be orthogonal projection. These projections vary smoothly. Indeed, in a local frame of $E$ write its metric as a positive-definite matrix $G(p)$, and let the columns of $A(p)$ be a frame of $F$. ThenThe matrix $A^{t}GA$ is positive definite, so its inverse is smooth. This formula proves smoothness of the intrinsic projections in every chart. It also gives $P^2=P$ and $\mathrm{im}P=F$.

The orthogonal complement $F^{\perp }=\ker P$ is a smooth vector subbundle: applying $I-P$ to a complement frame gives a frame of its fibers, of constant rank $s-r$, after shrinking the chart. Fiberwise,and the restriction $q{|}_{F^{\perp }}:F^{\perp }\to E/F$ is a smooth fiberwise bijective vector bundle morphism. In local frames its matrix is invertible, with smooth inverse, so it is a vector bundle isomorphism.

More explicitly, the desired orthogonal splitting of a vector subbundle isIts inverse is $(f,[v])\mapsto f+(I-P)v$. Replacing $v$ by $v+w$ with $w\in F_p$ leaves $(I-P)v$ unchanged, so the inverse is well-defined. Both maps are smooth and linear on fibers, and their compositions are identities. The splitting exists globally but depends on the chosen fiber metric.