Principal H-subbundle

An H-invariant submanifold of a principal G-bundle that is itself a principal H-bundle over the same base.
Principal H-subbundle

Let PMP\to M be a with structure group a GG, and let HGH\subset G be a Lie subgroup.

A principal H-subbundle of PP is a submanifold QPQ\subset P such that:

  1. π(Q)=M\pi(Q)=M and πQ:QM\pi|_Q:Q\to M is a surjective submersion,
  2. QQ is preserved by the restricted of HH, i.e. qhQq\cdot h\in Q for all qQq\in Q, hHh\in H,
  3. the HH-action on QQ is free and transitive on the fibers of πQ\pi|_Q.

Then (Q,πQ,M,H)(Q,\pi|_Q,M,H) is a principal HH-bundle, and the inclusion QPQ\hookrightarrow P is HH-equivariant. Giving such a subbundle is precisely the concrete form of a from GG to HH.

Examples

  1. Orthonormal frames. For a Riemannian manifold, the orthonormal frame bundle is a principal O(n)O(n)-subbundle of the full frame bundle (a GL(n)GL(n)-bundle).
  2. Trivial bundle subgroups. If P=M×GP=M\times G, then Q:=M×HQ:=M\times H is a principal HH-subbundle.
  3. Unit circle subbundle of a line bundle. For a Hermitian complex line bundle LML\to M, the unit circle bundle S(L)S(L) is a principal U(1)U(1)-subbundle of the principal C\mathbb{C}^\ast-bundle of nonzero vectors in LL.