Definition

Let be a principal G-bundle. Let be a representation of . The associated vector bundle with fiber is

Local trivializations

For any local trivialization of the vector bundle , then we can look at the associated vector bundle

The action on is trivial by the trivialization, so

Note that

since we have the map

Then we claim that the candidate inverse map

is well-defined. This is since any element can be written as . Thus, the local trivialization of the associated bundle is

Associated bundles with normal subgroups

Let be a group, and a normal subgroup. Then is a natural principal bundle. Thus, the associated bundle of a representation gives the vector bundle