Sullivan associated a uniquely determined $DGA{|}_{\mathbf{Q}}$ to any simply connected simplicial complex $E$. This algebra (called minimal model) contains the total (and exactly) rational homotopy information of the space $E$. In case $E$ is the total space of a principal $G$-bundle, ($G$ is a compact connected Lie-group) we associate a $G$-equivariant model $U_G\left[E\right]$, which is a collection of “$G$-homotopic” $DGA$’s${|}_{\mathbf{R}}$ with $G$-action. $U_G\left[E\right]$ will, in general, be different from the Sullivan’s minimal model of the space $E$. $U_G\left[E\right]$ contains the...

Let $G_{n,k}$ (${\tilde{G}}_{n,k}$) denote the Grassmann manifold of linear $k$-spaces (resp. oriented $k$-spaces) in ${ℝ}^n$, $d_{n,k}=k(n-k)=\text{dim}{G}_{n,k}$ and suppose $n\ge 2k$. As an easy consequence of the Steenrod obstruction theory, one sees that $(d_{n,k}+1)$-fold Whitney sum $(d_{n,k}+1){\xi }_{n,k}$ of the nontrivial line bundle ${\xi }_{n,k}$ over $G_{n,k}$ always has a nowhere vanishing section. The author deals with the following question: What is the least $s$ ($=s_{n,k}$) such that the vector bundle $s{\xi }_{n,k}$ admits a nowhere vanishing section ? Obviously, $s_{n,k}\le d_{n,k}+1$, and for the special case in which $k=1$, it is known that $s_{n,1}=d_{n,1}+1$....

We study secondary obstructions to representing a line bundle as the pull-back of a line bundle on $S^2$ and we interpret them geometrically.

We prove that on a $CW$-complex the obstruction for a line bundle $L$ to be the fractional power of a suitable pullback of the Hopf bundle on a 2-dimensional sphere is the vanishing of the square of the first Chern class of $L$. On the other hand we show that if one looks at integral powers then further secondary obstructions exist.