Why is not every vectorbundle trivial and we only need local trivialization?

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Why is should the trivialization only need to be local for vectorbundles? For example the tangent bundle. If the tangent space at a point p of a manifold M is identified with let's say $mathbbR^n$ , why can't we just identify the total space of the vectorbundle with M x $mathbbR^n$ ? My questions could be formulated as, why is not every vectorbundle a trivial one? Since I have the feeling that all the fibers can be identified with $mathbbR^n$ and therefore you don't have only local trivialization, but everywhere.










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    Why is should the trivialization only need to be local for vectorbundles? For example the tangent bundle. If the tangent space at a point p of a manifold M is identified with let's say $mathbbR^n$ , why can't we just identify the total space of the vectorbundle with M x $mathbbR^n$ ? My questions could be formulated as, why is not every vectorbundle a trivial one? Since I have the feeling that all the fibers can be identified with $mathbbR^n$ and therefore you don't have only local trivialization, but everywhere.










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      Why is should the trivialization only need to be local for vectorbundles? For example the tangent bundle. If the tangent space at a point p of a manifold M is identified with let's say $mathbbR^n$ , why can't we just identify the total space of the vectorbundle with M x $mathbbR^n$ ? My questions could be formulated as, why is not every vectorbundle a trivial one? Since I have the feeling that all the fibers can be identified with $mathbbR^n$ and therefore you don't have only local trivialization, but everywhere.










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      Why is should the trivialization only need to be local for vectorbundles? For example the tangent bundle. If the tangent space at a point p of a manifold M is identified with let's say $mathbbR^n$ , why can't we just identify the total space of the vectorbundle with M x $mathbbR^n$ ? My questions could be formulated as, why is not every vectorbundle a trivial one? Since I have the feeling that all the fibers can be identified with $mathbbR^n$ and therefore you don't have only local trivialization, but everywhere.







      differential-geometry vector-bundles






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      asked 3 hours ago









      user3397129

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          The same reason not all manifolds are copies of $mathbbR^n$ --- just because we're gluing things together to locally preserve structure, that doesn't mean the global result has that same structure. (If it did, then differential topology wouldn't be such an interesting area of study!)



          Here are two examples of nontrivializable vector bundles.



          1. Mobius band. This is a 1-dimensional real vector bundle over $mathbbS^1$ and it is not orientable, hence not diffeomorphic to a cylinder (and therefore not trivializable).


          2. Tangent bundle to $mathbbS^2$. By the hairy ball theorem, this has no globally nonzero sections, hence it cannot be trivializable.






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          • When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
            – user3397129
            3 hours ago










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          The same reason not all manifolds are copies of $mathbbR^n$ --- just because we're gluing things together to locally preserve structure, that doesn't mean the global result has that same structure. (If it did, then differential topology wouldn't be such an interesting area of study!)



          Here are two examples of nontrivializable vector bundles.



          1. Mobius band. This is a 1-dimensional real vector bundle over $mathbbS^1$ and it is not orientable, hence not diffeomorphic to a cylinder (and therefore not trivializable).


          2. Tangent bundle to $mathbbS^2$. By the hairy ball theorem, this has no globally nonzero sections, hence it cannot be trivializable.






          share|cite|improve this answer




















          • When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
            – user3397129
            3 hours ago














          up vote
          6
          down vote













          The same reason not all manifolds are copies of $mathbbR^n$ --- just because we're gluing things together to locally preserve structure, that doesn't mean the global result has that same structure. (If it did, then differential topology wouldn't be such an interesting area of study!)



          Here are two examples of nontrivializable vector bundles.



          1. Mobius band. This is a 1-dimensional real vector bundle over $mathbbS^1$ and it is not orientable, hence not diffeomorphic to a cylinder (and therefore not trivializable).


          2. Tangent bundle to $mathbbS^2$. By the hairy ball theorem, this has no globally nonzero sections, hence it cannot be trivializable.






          share|cite|improve this answer




















          • When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
            – user3397129
            3 hours ago












          up vote
          6
          down vote










          up vote
          6
          down vote









          The same reason not all manifolds are copies of $mathbbR^n$ --- just because we're gluing things together to locally preserve structure, that doesn't mean the global result has that same structure. (If it did, then differential topology wouldn't be such an interesting area of study!)



          Here are two examples of nontrivializable vector bundles.



          1. Mobius band. This is a 1-dimensional real vector bundle over $mathbbS^1$ and it is not orientable, hence not diffeomorphic to a cylinder (and therefore not trivializable).


          2. Tangent bundle to $mathbbS^2$. By the hairy ball theorem, this has no globally nonzero sections, hence it cannot be trivializable.






          share|cite|improve this answer












          The same reason not all manifolds are copies of $mathbbR^n$ --- just because we're gluing things together to locally preserve structure, that doesn't mean the global result has that same structure. (If it did, then differential topology wouldn't be such an interesting area of study!)



          Here are two examples of nontrivializable vector bundles.



          1. Mobius band. This is a 1-dimensional real vector bundle over $mathbbS^1$ and it is not orientable, hence not diffeomorphic to a cylinder (and therefore not trivializable).


          2. Tangent bundle to $mathbbS^2$. By the hairy ball theorem, this has no globally nonzero sections, hence it cannot be trivializable.







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          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered 3 hours ago









          Neal

          23.1k23582




          23.1k23582











          • When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
            – user3397129
            3 hours ago
















          • When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
            – user3397129
            3 hours ago















          When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
          – user3397129
          3 hours ago




          When showing locally trivialization formally, should one make use of charts in general?
          – user3397129
          3 hours ago

















           

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