Some variations on the notion of connection (Q1342840)

The differential formalism associated with some generalizations of a connection on a fibered manifold is studied within the framework of the theory of jets of \(m\)-dimensional submanifolds of an \((m+1)\)-dimensional manifold \(E\) (contact elements). A pre-connection on \(E\) is a section \(\gamma : E \to J^ 1(E,m)\) of the bundle \(\pi_{1,0}: J^ 1(E,m) \to E\) or equivalently the \(m\)- dimensional vector subbundle \(H_ \gamma\) of \(TE\). The point is the absence of an a priori defined fibration, which results in the absence of any distinguished ``vertical'' subbundle in \(TE\). On the other hand, if \(\pi: E \to B\), \(\dim B = m\), is a fibered structure (hence \(J^ k \pi \subset J^ k(E,m)\)), then each pre-connection \(\gamma\) on \(E\), whose \(H_ \gamma\) is horizontal with respect to \(\pi\) (transversal to \(V_ \pi\)), is a connection on \(\pi\) in the sense studied e.g. by \textit{L. Mangiarotti} and the first author [Connections and differential calculus on fibred manifolds, Sem. Ist. Mat. Appl. Florence, 1-141 (1989)]. Two basic notions, namely the covariant differential and the curvature, are defined for pre-connections; in fact, the last notion transforms to the deviation of \(\gamma\), whose graded version is studied as well. The tools of the Frölicher-Nijenhuis bracket call for the existence of the almost-fibering on \(E\), which is nothing but a \(1\)-dimensional distribution \(V_ \Pi\) on \(E\), simulating the role of the vertical subbundle \(V_ \pi\) in case of a fibred manifold \(\pi : E \to B\). The presence of such an almost-fibring transversal to \(H_ \gamma\) then results in the study of some basic formulas for a pre-connection \(\gamma\). The last part is devoted to the lift of the theory of pre-connections and almost-fiberings to \(J^ \infty(E,m)\) (infinite jets); the motivation rests upon the possible applications in the theory of differential equations [e.g. \textit{I. S. Krasil'shchik, V. V. Lychagin} and \textit{A. M. Vinogradov}, Geometry of jet spaces and nonlinear partial differential equations, Gordon and Breach, New York (1986; Zbl 0722.35001)]. In this respect, the differential calculus relative to (``along'') a map \(M \to N\) is presented allowing the definition of the \(k\)th order pre-connection on \(E\) as an \(m\)-dimensional vector subbundle of \(TE\) relative with respect to \(\pi_{k,0}: J^ k(E,m) \to E\). In the case of a fibred manifold \(\pi\), it is the \(k\)th order connection on \(\pi\) as the \(\pi\)- horizontal distribution \(J^ k \pi \to \pi^*_{k,0}(TE) = J^ k\pi \times_ E TE\). In other words, the components of a \(k\)th order (pre- )connection depend on \(k\)th order derivations.