Euler and Pontrjagin currents of a section of a compactified real bundle (Q1900157)

Harvey, Lawson and Semmes studied smooth sections of vector bundles [see \textit{F. R. Harvey} and \textit{H. B. Lawson jun.}, A theory of characteristic currents associated with a singular connection, Astérisque 213 (1993; Zbl 0804.53037) and \textit{F. R. Harvey} and \textit{S. W. Semmes}, Zero divisors of atomic functions, Ann. Math., II. Ser. 135, No. 3, 567-600 (1992; Zbl 0767.57017)]. In this work meromorphic sections of real vector bundles are studied. More precisely, the main goal is to establish the relation between the topology and the behaviour of its meromorphic sections in the neighborhood of its zero and pole set. Let \(V\) be an oriented real vector bundle of rank \(n\) over a manifold \(X\) which is compactified by embedding it in the bundle of real projective spaces \(P (\mathbb{R} \otimes V) \to X\). For an atomic section \(\nu\) of the vector bundle \(V \to X\), the zero divisor, \(\text{Div}_0 (\nu)\), is defined by Harvey and Semmes. The zero divisor is a current on \(X\) which is supported on the zero set \(Z\) of \(\nu\) which encodes the multiplicity of vanishing of \(\nu\) on \(Z\). For a section \(\nu : X \to P (\mathbb{R} \otimes V)\) the pole divisor \(\text{Div}_\infty (\nu)\) is defined. In addition, we assume that \(V\) is endowed with a Riemannian metric and a compatible metric connection \(D_V\). In the paper the following main formula, the current equation, is established: \[ \chi (D_V) + \text{Div}_\infty (\nu) \nu^* \text{Res} - \text{Div}_0 (\nu) = d \sigma \text{ on } X \] for an atomic section \(\nu\) of \(P(\mathbb{R} \otimes V) \to X\) (under appropriate orientability conditions on \(X\) and \(\nu)\). \(\sigma\) is a canonically defined \(L^1_{\text{loc}}\) current on \(X\). The proof of the main result is based on the Thom forms \(\tau_s\), \(0 < s < \infty\), constructed by Harvey and Lawson. The obtained formula can be used to consider the differential topology of maps into spheres and real projective spaces.