Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 18 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A real rank- vector bundle is a continuous family of -dimensional real vector spaces, locally trivial by homeomorphisms which are linear on every fiber. Transition matrices are continuous maps into . The Grassmannian is the space of -dimensional linear subspaces; its topology can be defined by identifying each plane with its orthogonal projection matrix . Local graph charts identify nearby planes with graphs of maps .
The tautological bundle is . In graph charts a basis of gives a continuously varying basis of each graph, proving local triviality. The universal quotient bundle has fiber . The map identifies it continuously with the orthogonal-complement bundle , whose graph charts similarly supply local frames. Thus is a rank- quotient vector bundle.
For the given , at each choose a basis of and global sections of a vector bundle realizing its basis vectors, using the evaluation-surjectivity assumption. Those sections remain independent on a neighbourhood of , since the corresponding determinant in a local trivialization is nonzero at and continuous. Compactness gives a finite cover by such neighbourhoods. Collect all the selected sections as ; they span every fiber. They define a fiberwise surjective vector bundle morphismIts kernels have constant dimension and form the kernel bundle of a surjective vector bundle morphism. More concretely, in a local frame of the map has a continuous full-row-rank matrix and its kernel projection isThis varies continuously and is unchanged by an invertible change of target frame. The Grassmannian as projection matrices therefore makesa continuous map. The fiber quotient map induced by is an isomorphism . The same local matrix formula gives continuously varying right inverses, so these fiber isomorphisms give a vector bundle isomorphism. This proves the classification of vector bundles by a universal quotient bundle:The displayed equality in the classification statement is understood as bundle isomorphism, not literal equality of total spaces.
Finally, the universal quotient bundle need not have a nowhere-zero section. Take . Its quotient identifies with , a Möbius line bundle. Write , with modulo . A section of the complement line has the form , and being single-valued requires . If is nonzero anywhere, the intermediate value theorem forces a zero between that point and its translate by ; if it is nowhere nonzero the conclusion is immediate. Hence this rank-one quotient bundle has no nowhere-zero section.