Is there a version of Stokes' theorem for vector bundle-valued (or just [vector-valued](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector-valued_differential_form)) differential forms?


Concretely: Let $E \rightarrow M$ be a smooth vector bundle over an $n$-manifold $M$ equipped with a connection. First of all, is there an $E$-valued integration defined on the space $\Omega^{n-1}(M,E)$ of smooth sections of $E\otimes \Lambda^{n-1}T^\ast M$ mimicking what you have for $\mathbb{R}$-valued forms? If so, does


$\int\_{\partial M} \omega = \int\_M d\omega$


hold (or even make sense) for $\omega\in\Omega^{n-1}(M,E)$ if $d$ is the exterior derivative coming from our connection on $E$?


In this setting, letting $E$ be the trivial bundle $M\times \mathbb{R}$ should give the ordinary integral and Stokes' theorem.


Sorry if the answer is too obvious; I just don't have any of my textbooks available at the moment, and have never thought about Stokes' theorem for anything other than scalar-valued forms before.



Integration and Stokes' theorem for vector bundle-valued differential forms?
For a general vector bundle, I there is no "$E$-valued integration" as you put it. You are trying to add up elements in the fibres of $E$, but since the fibres over different points are not the same vector space you can't add their elements.


For the trivial bundle $M \times \mathbb{R}^k$ - and with a fixed choice of trivialisation! - you can carry out the integral component by component, But if you change the trivialisation you will get a different answer. Moreover, you can change the trivialisation in a way that varies over the manifold, so there is no hope that the integral will just change by a linear map of $\mathbb{R}^k$. You can see this behaviour even with ordinary functions. A function is a section of the trivial*ised* rank 1 bundle. If you change the trivialisation, but insist on regarding ordinary $p$-forms as bundle valued, you multiply all your forms by a fixed nowhere vanishing function. This can change the integral over a $p$-cycle in a more-or-less arbitrary way.


What you *can* integrate $E$-valued forms against is $E^\*$-valued ones. Given $a \in \Omega^p(E)$ and $b \in \Omega^q(E^\*)$ their wedge product is an ordinary $(p+q)$-form which you can then integrate over a $(p+q)$-cycle. Now you have a version of Stokes theorem. If you have a connection $A$ in $E$ then you can check that
$$
d(a \wedge b) = d\_A(a) \wedge b \pm a \wedge d\_A(b).
$$
So Stokes theorem gives
$$
\int\_{M}d\_A(a) \wedge b \pm a \wedge d\_A(b) = \int\_{\partial M} a \wedge b.
$$
In the case when $b$ is a covariant constant section of $E$ and $M$ has dimension one more than the degree of $a$, we get
$$\int\_M \langle d\_A(a) , b \rangle=\int\_{\partial M} \langle a, b \rangle$$
This is just the usual Stokes theorem, for the component of $a$ in the direction $b$. Since $b$ is covariant-constant, $\langle d\_A(a), b \rangle = d \langle a, b \rangle$.


