Vector bundles and $SO(3)$ invariants for elliptic surfaces I

This paper is the first in a series of three devoted to the smooth classification of simply connected elliptic surfaces. The method is to compute some coefficients of Donaldson polynomials of $SO(3)$ invariants whose second Stiefel-Whitney class is transverse to the unique primitive class $\kappa$ such that a positive multiple of $\kappa$ is the class of a general fiber on the surface. In this paper, we collect preliminary results on elliptic surfaces and vector bundles and give the general outline of the argument.