Pullback of hermitian line bundle

complex-geometrycomplex-manifoldsdifferential-geometryline-bundles

let $f:X\to Y$ be a holomorphic map between complex manifolds. Let $(L,h)$ be a hermitian line bundle on $Y$. Namely $L$ is a holomorphic line bundle on $Y$ and $h$ is a $C^{\infty}$-hermitian inner product on $L$.

What is the pullback $f^\ast(L,h)$? I guess that it should be a hermitian line bundle of the form $(f^\ast L, f^\ast h)$. I have no problem in the definition of $f^\ast L$, but what is $f^\ast h$?

In other words assume that $s$ and $t$ are local sections of $f^\ast L$, how is it defined $f^\ast h\,\big(s(x),t(x)\big)$? As far as I know it is not true that any local section of $f^\ast L$ is of the form $r\circ f$ for a local section $r$ of $L$.

Best Answer

Note that the formal definition of the pullback of $\pi : L \to Y$ by $f : X \to Y$ is as follows: the total space is given by $f^*L = \{(x, \ell) \in X\times L \mid f(x) = \pi(\ell)\}$ and the projection $\pi' : f^*L \to X$ is given by projection onto the first factor; i.e. $\pi'(x, \ell) = x$. There is also a map $F : f^*L \to L$ given by projection onto the second factor, i.e. $F(x, \ell) = \ell$. These maps give rise to a commutative square:

$$\require{AMScd} \begin{CD} f^*L @>{F}>> L\\ @V{\pi'}VV @VV{\pi}V \\ X @>{f}>> Y \end{CD}$$

That is, $\pi\circ F = f\circ\pi'$.

Note that for $x_0 \in X$, we have $$(f^*L)_{x_0} = \pi'^{-1}(x_0) = \{(x_0, \ell) \in X\times L \mid f(x_0) = \pi(\ell)\} \cong \pi^{-1}(f(x_0)) = L_{f(x_0)}.$$

The pullback metric $f^*h$ on $(f^*L)_{x_0}$ is just the original metric $h$ on $L_{f(x_0)}$. More precisely, $$(f^*L)_x(s(x), t(x)) = h_{f(x)}(F(s(x)), F(t(x))).$$

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