On the Optimal Regularity Implied by the Assumptions of Geometry II: Connections on Vector Bundles

We extend authors' prior results on optimal regularity and Uhlenbeck compactness for affine connections to general connections on vector bundles. This is accomplished by deriving a vector bundle version of the RT-equations, and establishing a new existence theory for these equations. These new RT-equations, non-invariant elliptic equations, provide the gauge transformations which transform the fibre component of a non-optimal connection to optimal regularity, i.e., the connection is one derivative more regular than its curvature in $L^p$. The existence theory handles curvature regularity all the way down to, but not including, $L^1$. Taken together with the affine case, our results extend optimal regularity of Kazden-DeTurck and the compactness theorem of Uhlenbeck, applicable to Riemannian geometry and compact gauge groups, to general connections on vector bundles over non-Riemannian manifolds, allowing for both compact and non-compact gauge groups. In particular, this extends optimal regularity and Uhlenbeck compactness to Yang-Mills connections on vector bundles over Lorentzian manifolds as base space, the setting of General Relativity.