The relation between systems and associated bundles (Q2367519)

A system of sections of a double fibred manifold \(F\to E\to B\) is defined to be a pair \((S,\xi)\), where \(S\to B\) is a fibred manifold and \(\xi:S\times_ BE\to F\) a fibred morphism over \(E\). Then, for each section \(s:B\to C\), we obtain the section \(s:=\xi\circ s^ \uparrow:E\to F\), where \(s^ \uparrow:E\to S\times_ BE\) denotes the pullback of \(s\). These sections \(s\) are the distinguished sections of the system. In particular, for \(F=\bigwedge^ rT^*E\otimes_ ETE\), we can consider a system of tangent valued forms of the fibred manifold \(E\to B\); the special cases of vector fields and connections arise for \(r=0\) and \(r=1\), respectively. The concept of systems of tangent valued forms, along with the Frölicher-Nijenhuis bracket, turns out to be a natural and powerful generalisation of the approach to connections based on principal bundles. In order to achieve a precise comparison between the view points of principal bundles and systems, the author proves that a strong system of vector fields on a bundle \(E\to B\) is induced from a principal bundle if and only if each vertical vector field of the system is complete. The proof is hard and involves global differential geometry.