21 Connections and connection 1-forms

21.1 Connections on a principal bundle

Let (P, , M ) be a principal G-bundle. Recall that every element of A Te G gives rise to
a left invariant vector field on G which we denoted by X A . However, we will now reserve
this notation for a vector field on P instead. Given A Te G, we define X A (T P ) by

XpA : C (P )
R
f 7 [f (p C exp(tA))]0 (0),

where the derivative is to be taken with respect to t. We also define the maps

ip : Te G Tp P
A 7 XpA ,

which can be shown to be a Lie algebra homomorphism.

Definition. Let (P, , M ) be a principal bundle and let p P . The vertical subspace at p
is the vector subspace of Tp P given by

Vp P := ker(( )p )
= {Xp Tp P | ( )p (Xp ) = 0}.

Lemma 21.1. For all A Te G and p P , we have XpA Vp P .

Proof. Since the action of G simply permutes the elements within each fibre, we have

(p) = (p C exp(tA)),

for any t. Let f C (M ) be arbitrary. Then

( )p XpA (f ) = XpA (f )
= [(f )(p C exp(tA))]0 (0)
= [f ((p))]0 (0)
= 0,

since f ((p)) is constant. Hence XpA Vp P . Alternatively, one can also argue that ( )p XpA
is the tangent vector to a constant curve on M .

In particular, the map ip : Te G
Vp P is now a bijection. The idea of a connection
is to make a choice of how to connect the individual points in neighbouring fibres in a
principal fibre bundle.

Definition. Let (P, , M ) be a principal bundle and let p P . A horizontal subspace at p

a vector subspace Hp P of Tp P which is complementary to Vp P , i.e.

Tp P = Hp P Vp P.

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 The choice of horizontal space at p P is not unique. However, once a choice is made,
there is a unique decomposition of each Xp Tp P as

Xp = hor(Xp ) + ver(Xp ),

with hor(Xp ) Hp P and ver(Xp ) Vp P .

Definition. A connection on a principal G-bundle (P, , M ) is a choice of horizontal space

at each p P such that

i) For all g G, p P and Xp Hp P , we have

(C g) Xp HpCg P,

where (C g) is the push-forward of the map ( C g) : P P and it is a bijection.

We can also write this condition more concisely as

(C g) (Hp P ) = HpCg P.

ii) For every smooth X (T P ), the two summands in the unique decomposition

X|p = hor(X|p ) + ver(X|p )

at each p P , extend to smooth hor(X), ver(X) (T M ).

The definition formalises the idea that the assignment of an Hp P to each p P should
be smooth within each fibre (i) as well as between different fibres (ii).
Remark 21.2. For each Xp Tp P , both hor(Xp ) and ver(Xp ) depend on the choice of Hp P .

21.2 Connection one-forms

Technically, the choice of a horizontal subspace Hp P at each p P providing a connection
is conveniently encoded in the thus induced Lie-algebra-valued one-form

p : Tp P
Te G
Xp 7 p (Xp ) := i1
p (ver(Xp ))

Definition. The map : p p sending each p P to the Te G-valued one-form p is

called the connection one-form with respect to the connection.

Remark 21.3. We have seen how to produce a one-form from a choice of horizontal spaces
(i.e. a connection). The choice of horizontal spaces can be recovered from by

Hp P = ker(p ).

Of course, not every (Lie-algebra-valued) one-form on P is such that ker(p ) gives a

connection on the principal bundle. What we would now like to do is to study some crucial
properties of . We will then elevate these properties to a definition of connection one-
form absent a connection, so that we may re-define the notion of connection in terms of a
connection one-form.

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Lemma 21.4. For all p P , g G and A Te G, we have
(Ad 1 ) A
(C g) XpA = XpCg g .
Proof. Let f C (P ) be arbitrary. We have
(C g) XpA (f ) = XpA (f ( C g))
= [f (p C exp(tA) C g)]0 (0)
= [f (p C g C g 1 C exp(tA) C g)]0 (0)
= [f (p C g C (g 1 exp(tA) g)]0 (0)
= [f (p C g C Adg1 (exp(tA))]0 (0)
= [f (p C g C exp(t(Adg1 ) A)]0 (0)
(Ad 1 ) A
= XpCg g (f ),
which is what we wanted.

Theorem 21.5. A connection one-form with respect to a connection satisfies

a) For all p P , we have p (XpA ) = A, that is p ip = idTe G .
ip
Te G Vp P

p |V p P
idTe G

Te G

b) ((C g) )|p (Xp ) = (Adg1 ) (p (Xp ))

p
Tp P Te G

(Adg1 )
((Cg) )|p

Te G

c) is a smooth one-form.
Proof. a) Since XpA Vp P , by definition of we have
p (XpA ) := i1 A 1 A
p (ver(Xp )) = ip (Xp ) = A.

b) First observe that the left hand side is linear in Xp . Consider the two cases

b.1) Suppose that Xp Vp P . Then Xp = XpA for some A Te G. Hence

((C g) )|p (XpA ) = pCg ((C g) XpA )
 (Ad ) A 
1
= pCg XpCg g
= (Adg1 ) A
= (Adg1 ) (p (XpA ))

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 b.2) Suppose now that Xp Hp P = ker(p ). Then

((C g) )|p (Xp ) = pCg ((C g) Xp ) = 0

since (C g) Xp HpCg P = ker(pCg ).

Let Xp Tp P . We have

((C g) )|p (Xp ) = ((C g) )|p (ver(Xp ) + hor(Xp ))

= ((C g) )|p (ver(Xp )) + ((C g) )|p (hor(Xp ))
= (Adg1 ) (p (ver(Xp ))) + 0
= (Adg1 ) (p (ver(Xp ))) + (Adg1 ) (p (hor(Xp )))
= (Adg1 ) (p (ver(Xp ) + hor(Xp )))
= (Adg1 ) (p (Xp ))

c) We have = i1 ver and both i1 and ver are smooth.