Pullback connection ($f^{\ast }A$)

If a connection on $E\to B$ has connection matrix $A=A_i(y)d{y}^i$ in a local frame and $f:M\to B$, its pullback connection has matrixIt is characterized by ${\nabla }_X^{f^{\ast }A}(f^{\ast }s)=f^{\ast }({\nabla }_{df(X)}^{A}s)$.

For a smooth map $\varphi :M^{\prime }\to M$ and a connection on a vector bundle $E\to M$, the curvature form of a connection on the pullback vector bundle satisfiesas an endomorphism of $E_{\varphi (p)}$. In a frame of a vector bundle written as a row, with section components written as columns, the connection one-form is $\Omega$ and its curvature form of a connection is $d\Omega +\Omega \wedge \Omega$. The pullback connection has matrix ${\varphi }^{\ast }\Omega$; commutation of the pullback of a differential form with the exterior derivative and wedge product of differential forms proves the identity. No pushforward to an ambient vector field is required: $d\varphi (X)$ is a vector field along a map.

For an embedded submanifold $i:M\hookrightarrow N$, the ambient affine connection induces a pullback connection on $i^{\ast }TN=TN{|}_M$. Extend a local section off $M$ and differentiate in a direction tangent to $M$. If two extensions agree on $M$, their difference has zero coefficients on $M$, whose tangential derivatives are zero. Thus the restricted derivative is independent of the extension. Its value may have a normal component, so obtaining a connection on $TM$ requires a further projection.