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Every $C^{\infty }(M)$-linear map between the modules of smooth sections of finite-rank smooth vector bundles is induced by a unique vector bundle morphism. A smooth bump function shows that the map is local. A bumped local frame then proves that a section vanishing at $x$ has image vanishing at $x$. Evaluating the image therefore defines a well-defined fiberwise linear map. The images of the bumped frame give smooth matrix columns, proving the resulting morphism is smooth. This elementary argument is also described in Brian Conrad's bundle notes.

The smooth sections of a vector bundle form a module over the commutative ring $C^{\infty }(M)$ by pointwise multiplication. A vector bundle morphism over the identity induces a $C^{\infty }(M)$-linear map between these modules. Bundle morphisms from maps of smooth sections gives the converse, without assuming the bundle has a global frame.

A real rank-$d$ vector bundle $p:E\to M$ is a continuous family of $d$-dimensional real vector spaces, locally trivial by homeomorphisms $p^{-1}(U)\cong U\times {\mathbb{R}}^d$ which are linear on every fiber. Transition matrices are continuous maps into ${\mathrm{GL}}_d(\mathbb{R})$. The Grassmannian ${\mathrm{Gr}}_k({\mathbb{R}}^n)$ is the space of $k$-dimensional linear subspaces; its topology can be defined by identifying each plane $W$ with its orthogonal projection matrix $P_W$. Local graph charts identify nearby planes with graphs of maps $W_0\to W_0^{\perp }$.

The tautological bundle is $E_{\mathrm{taut}}=\{(W,v):v\in W\}\to {\mathrm{Gr}}_k({\mathbb{R}}^n)$. In graph charts a basis of $W_0$ gives a continuously varying basis of each graph, proving local triviality. The universal quotient bundle has fiber $Q_W={\mathbb{R}}^n/W$. The map $[v]\mapsto (I-P_W)v$ identifies it continuously with the orthogonal-complement bundle $W^{\perp }$, whose graph charts similarly supply local frames. Thus $Q_{\mathrm{taut}}$ is a rank-$(n-k)$ quotient vector bundle.

For the given $E\to M$, at each $m$ choose a basis of $E_m$ and global sections of a vector bundle realizing its basis vectors, using the evaluation-surjectivity assumption. Those $d$ sections remain independent on a neighbourhood of $m$, since the corresponding determinant in a local trivialization is nonzero at $m$ and continuous. Compactness gives a finite cover by such neighbourhoods. Collect all the selected sections as $s_1,\dots ,s_N$; they span every fiber. They define a fiberwise surjective vector bundle morphismIts kernels have constant dimension $N-d$ and form the kernel bundle of a surjective vector bundle morphism. More concretely, in a local frame of $E$ the map has a continuous full-row-rank matrix $A(m)$ 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 $F_m$ is an isomorphism ${\mathbb{R}}^N/\ker F_m\to E_m$. 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 ${\mathrm{Gr}}_1({\mathbb{R}}^2)={\mathbb{RP}}^1$. Its quotient identifies with $W^{\perp }$, a Möbius line bundle. Write $W_{\theta }=\mathrm{span}(\cos \theta ,\sin \theta )$, with $\theta$ modulo $\pi$. A section of the complement line has the form $a(\theta )(-\sin \theta ,\cos \theta )$, and being single-valued requires $a(\theta +\pi )=-a(\theta )$. If $a$ is nonzero anywhere, the intermediate value theorem forces a zero between that point and its translate by $\pi$; if it is nowhere nonzero the conclusion is immediate. Hence this rank-one quotient bundle has no nowhere-zero section.

Let $r=\mathrm{rank}F$ and $s=\mathrm{rank}E$. Around any $p$, choose a local frame $f_1,\dots ,f_r$ of the vector subbundle $F$. Choose additional smooth sections $e_{r+1},\dots ,e_s$ of $E$ which complement these vectors at $p$. They can be obtained by constant-coordinate sections in a vector bundle trivialization. The determinant of the resulting frame is nonzero at $p$, hence on a sufficiently small neighborhood. Thusis an adapted local frame of $E$ near $p$.

On the fiberwise quotient, the classes $[e_{r+1}],\dots ,[e_s]$ form a basis. Give the quotient vector bundle its local coordinates byAn overlap between adapted frames has a smooth transition function of a vector bundle represented by an invertible block upper triangular matrix,The zero lower-left block expresses that both sets of first $r$ frame vectors span $F$. Its lower-right block $D$ is smooth and invertible. Passing to quotient coordinates removes the upper block, leaving precisely the transition $D$. These lower-right blocks satisfy the cocycle identity because the original transition matrices do. Consequently they define a compatible smooth bundle atlas of rank $s-r$. This proves $E/F$ is a smooth vector bundle, and its fiberwise quotient map $q:E\to E/F$ is a smooth vector bundle morphism. The construction is independent of the adapted frames: any two choices have the same type of compatible transition. The usual quotient topology agrees with this atlas, since in adapted coordinates $q$ is an open linear projection on each fiber.

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.

A fiber metric on a real vector bundle $E\to M$ is a smoothly varying positive-definite inner product on each fiber. Choose a trivializing open cover $\{U_i\}$ and a smooth partition of unity $\{{\rho }_i\}$ subordinate to it. The partition theorem gives nonnegative functions summing to one, a locally finite family of subsets of supports, and $\mathrm{supp}{\rho }_i\subset U_i$; the usual Hausdorff second-countable smooth manifold hypotheses ensure this theorem applies. Transfer the Euclidean inner product to each local vector bundle trivialization, obtaining $h_i$, and setEach weighted term extends smoothly by zero outside $U_i$, and local finiteness makes the sum smooth in every vector bundle trivialization. At each $x$ some weight is positive, so $h_x(v,v)>0$ for every nonzero $v$. This proves existence of a fiber metric, with no orientability or triviality assumption.

A vector bundle morphism covering the identity is a smooth map $F:E^{\prime }\to E^{\prime \prime }$ that preserves base points and is a linear map on each fiber. Its induced map on the module of smooth sections is $s\mapsto F\circ s$, and is $C^{\infty }(M)$-linear. We prove the converse by constructing bundle morphisms from maps of smooth sections.

First the given map $\alpha$ is local. If a global section $s$ vanishes on a neighborhood of $x$, take a smooth bump function $\chi$ supported there with $\chi =1$ near $x$. Then $\chi s=0$, so $\chi \alpha (s)=\alpha (\chi s)=0$, and hence $\alpha (s)(x)=0$. Thus sections agreeing near $x$ have images agreeing at $x$.

Choose a local frame $e_1,\dots ,e_r$ on $U$, and a bump function equal to one on a smaller neighborhood $V$ of $x$ and supported in $U$. Multiplying the frame by that bump and extending by zero gives global smooth sections $t_j$ whose restrictions to $V$ are the frame. If $s(x)=0$, write $s=\sum a_j{e}_j$ on $V$. A second bump extends each $a_j$ to a global smooth function ${\tilde{a}}_j$ agreeing near $x$. By locality and $C^{\infty }(M)$-linearity,Every fiber vector $v\in E_x^{\prime }$ is the value of a global smooth section, by the same bumped-frame construction. Define $F_x(v)=\alpha (s)(x)$ for any such section. The just-proved vanishing statement makes this well-defined. The maps $F_x$ are linear maps, and locally their matrix columns are the smooth sections $\alpha (t_j)$ in a frame of $E^{\prime \prime }$. Thus $F$ is smooth, is a vector bundle morphism, and satisfies $\alpha (s)=F\circ s$. Fiberwise evaluation also proves uniqueness.

Finally apply the fiber metric construction to the tangent bundle. A Riemannian metric $g$ defines the musical isomorphismPositive definiteness makes it a fiberwise bijection; its inverse is smooth because inverse metric matrices vary smoothly. Hence $TM$ and $T^{\ast }M$ are isomorphic as real smooth vector bundles on every such manifold. The isomorphism depends on the chosen metric and is not canonical.

A vector bundle morphism over $M$ is a smooth map $F:E\to E^{\prime }$ with ${\pi }^{\prime }\circ F=\pi$ whose restriction $E_p\to E_p^{\prime }$ is linear for every $p$. A vector bundle isomorphism is such a map with a smooth bundle-morphism inverse. Equivalently, a fiberwise bijective smooth bundle morphism is an isomorphism: in local vector bundle trivializations it is multiplication by an invertible smooth matrix, and its inverse matrix is smooth.

For a diffeomorphism $f:N\to M$, defineThe derivative $d{f}_p$ is a linear isomorphism by the chain rule, since $d(f^{-1}{)}_{f(p)}\circ d{f}_p=\mathrm{id}$. In manifold charts, $F$ is represented by the smooth Jacobian matrix of $f$, so it is a smooth bundle morphism. Its inverse iswhich is also smooth and fiberwise linear. ConsequentlyThis identifies the bundles over the same base $N$; the tangent map by itself is a map from $TN$ to $TM$ covering $f$.

For a smooth vector subbundle $F\subset E$, the quotient has fibers $(E/F{)}_p=E_p/F_p$. Extend a local frame of a vector bundle of $F$ to one of $E$; the classes of the complementary frame vectors trivialize the quotient. Adapted transition functions of a vector bundle are block upper triangular, and their lower-right blocks give the quotient transitions. These are smooth and satisfy the cocycle identity, defining a smooth vector bundle. The projection $E\to E/F$ is a smooth vector bundle morphism.

A smooth vector bundle morphism from a vector bundle $E$ to itself, covering the identity on the base, is a vector bundle endomorphism. It is fibrewise linear and is equivalently a smooth section of $\mathrm{End}E$. In a local frame its matrix is smooth and changes by conjugation under changes of frame. An almost complex structure is a real endomorphism of the tangent bundle satisfying $J^2=-I$.

A vector bundle morphism is an isomorphism if it admits an inverse of the same kind. A smooth fiberwise bijective bundle morphism automatically has a smooth inverse, because inverse matrices in vector bundle trivializations depend smoothly on their entries wherever their determinants are nonzero.