Abstract:
This article is devoted to a certain class of second order
structures on vector bundles, so called Stiefel orientations.
Their relation to Stiefel–Whitney classes and to each other is
investigated. The question of their existence turns out to be
closely related to some calculations in the classifying spaces.
The main (but not the most difficult) constructive result is the
following:
THEOREM 3: If $z_k$ is а $k$-dimensional Stiefel orientation
on a bundle $\xi^n$, $1\leqslant k<m\leqslant n$, and $\binom{k}{i}$ is odd for
all $i=1,2,\dots,m-k$, then (1) there exists a unique expansion
$$
Sq^{m-k}z_k=\pi^*(y_m)+\sum_{i=k}^{m-1}\pi^*(y_{m-i})Sq^{i-k}z_k,
$$ $\pi: E(V_{n-k}(\xi))\mapsto E(V_{n-m}(\xi))$ being the standard projection
and $\dim y_{m-i}=m-i$;
(2) the class $y_m$ is an $m$-dimensional Stiefel orientation on $\xi^n$.