Real tautological line bundle Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
Over Real projective space , the real tautological line bundle is
On the standard chart , let . A local trivialization sends to , with inverse . These maps prove that this is a real line bundle. Its unit sphere bundle is the antipodal map quotient . Its mod-two Euler class of a real line bundle is the degree-one generator of the mod-two cohomology ring of real projective space.
Simply connected space Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-25
A simply connected space is path connected and has trivial fundamental group: every closed loop contracts to a point. The three-sphere is simply connected, whereas Real projective space has fundamental group .
The Adjoint double cover from SU(2) to SO(3) has kernel . Under SU(2) as the three-sphere, multiplication by is the antipodal map, so the quotient is Real projective space . Equivalently, an axis-angle ball of radius has opposite boundary points identified. The fundamental group is .
For the real tautological bundle over Real projective space, the tangent space at a line is . Adding gives , using a metric to identify a real line with its dual. Hence its total Stiefel–Whitney class is , with .
Standard affine atlas of real projective space Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
The manifold charts have coordinates , with . Their inverse inserts as the th homogeneous coordinate. On an overlap, changing the denominator from to divides each remaining coordinate by the nonzero coordinate . These rational smooth transition maps give Real projective space its standard smooth manifold structure.
Unoriented Gysin sequence Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For a real rank- vector bundle , the Thom isomorphism theorem with coefficients identifies the relative cohomology sequence of its disk bundle and sphere bundle with
The multiplier is the top Stiefel–Whitney class, also called the mod-two Euler class. No orientation of is required. For the real tautological line bundle, the sphere bundle is the antipodal cover of Real projective space; this sequence proves that all powers of the degree-one generator through the dimension of the base are nonzero.