Universal Bundles and Classifying Spaces

Abstract

This chapter evaluates universal bundles and classifying spaces. As before, G is a topological group. In defining the equivariant cohomology of a G-space M, one needs a weakly contractible space EG on which G acts freely. Such a space is provided by the total space of a universal G-bundle, a bundle from which every principal G-bundle can be pulled back. The base BG of a universal G-bundle is called a classifying space for G. By Whitehead's theorem, for CW-complexes, weakly contractible is the same as contractible. In the category of CW complexes (with continuous maps as morphisms), a principal G-bundle whose total space is contractible turns out to be precisely a universal G-bundle.