Tautological classes and smooth bundles over BSU(2)

Abstract

For a Lie group G and a smooth manifold W, we study the difference between smooth actions of G on W and bundles over the classifying space of G with fiber W and structure group Diff(W). In particular, we exhibit smooth manifold bundles over BSU(2) that are not induced by an action. The main tool for reaching this goal is a technical result that gives a constraint for the values of tautological classes pulled back to the cohomology of BSU(2) along a map induced by an action.