Basic curvature and the Atiyah cocycle in gauge theory

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chatzistavrakidis, Athanasios, Jonke, Larisa
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Chatzistavrakidis, Athanasios
Jonke, Larisa
author_facet Chatzistavrakidis, Athanasios
Jonke, Larisa
contents Motivated from target space covariant formulations of topological sigma models and from a graded-geometric approach to higher gauge theory, we study connections on Lie and Courant algebroids and on their description as differential graded (dg) manifolds. We revisit the notion of basic curvature for a connection on a Lie algebroid, which measures its compatibility with the Lie bracket and it appears in the BV-BRST differential of 2D gauge theories such as (twisted) Poisson and Dirac sigma models. We define a basic curvature tensor for connections on Courant algebroids and we show that in the description of a Courant algebroid as a QP2 manifold it appears naturally as part of the homological vector field together with the Gualtieri torsion of an induced generalised connection. Furthermore, we consider connections on dg manifolds and revisit the structure of gauge transformations in the graded-geometric approach to higher gauge theories from a manifestly covariant perspective. We argue that it is governed by the brackets of a Kapranov L$_{\infty}[1]$ algebra, whose binary bracket is given by the Atiyah cocycle that measures the compatibility of the connection with the homological vector field. We also revisit some aspects of the derived bracket construction and show how to extend it to connections and tensors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2302_04956
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Basic curvature and the Atiyah cocycle in gauge theory
Chatzistavrakidis, Athanasios
Jonke, Larisa
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
Differential Geometry
Motivated from target space covariant formulations of topological sigma models and from a graded-geometric approach to higher gauge theory, we study connections on Lie and Courant algebroids and on their description as differential graded (dg) manifolds. We revisit the notion of basic curvature for a connection on a Lie algebroid, which measures its compatibility with the Lie bracket and it appears in the BV-BRST differential of 2D gauge theories such as (twisted) Poisson and Dirac sigma models. We define a basic curvature tensor for connections on Courant algebroids and we show that in the description of a Courant algebroid as a QP2 manifold it appears naturally as part of the homological vector field together with the Gualtieri torsion of an induced generalised connection. Furthermore, we consider connections on dg manifolds and revisit the structure of gauge transformations in the graded-geometric approach to higher gauge theories from a manifestly covariant perspective. We argue that it is governed by the brackets of a Kapranov L$_{\infty}[1]$ algebra, whose binary bracket is given by the Atiyah cocycle that measures the compatibility of the connection with the homological vector field. We also revisit some aspects of the derived bracket construction and show how to extend it to connections and tensors.
title Basic curvature and the Atiyah cocycle in gauge theory
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
Differential Geometry
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.04956