As the question title suggests, what exactly is a vertical homotopy? Googling has failed to provide any results as so far as a clear definition goes...
2025-04-16 22:20:46.1744842046
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What, exactly, is a vertical homotopy?
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I think that a "vertical homotopy" is the same thing than a "fiber homotopy" i.e. an homotopy in the category of maps over $B$ :
if $p : E \to B$ and $p':E' \to B$ are two maps over $B$, and $f_1,f_2:E \to E'$ are maps from $p$ to $p'$ (i.e. $B$-maps or $p'\circ f_i = p$), then a continuous map $H:E \times I \to E'$ such that $H(-,0) = f_0$ and $H(-,1) = f_1$ is a "fiber homotopy" between $f_0$ and $f_1$ if $\begin{equation} \forall t, \ p' \circ H(-,t) = p. \end{equation}$
And two section $s_1$ and $s_2$ of $p$ are vertically homotopic if the two $B$-morphisms $s_1 \circ p$ and $s_2 \circ p$ from $E$ to $E$ are fiber homotopic.
When I search for "vertical homotopy", results 1 and 3 are both this question. Result 4 is the book "Fibrewise Homotopy Theory" by Michael Charles Crabb and Ioan Mackenzie James. On page 21, it says