Geometry of Deligne cohomology (Q1359237)

It is well known that for any complex manifold \(X\) the Deligne cohomology group \(\mathbb{H}^2 (X,\mathbb{Z}(2)_D)\) can be identified with group of isomorphism classes of holomorphic line bundles with connections over \(X\). There is also a geometric description of the Deligne cohomology group \(\mathbb{H}^3 (X,\mathbb{Z}(3)_D)\), due to J.-L. Brylinski and P. Deligne [see \textit{J.-L. Brylinski}, ``Loop spaces, characteristic classes, and geometric quantization'' (Birkhäuser 1993; Zbl 0823.55002)], in terms of gerbes with connective structures and curvings over \(X\). This paper gives a geometric interpretation of Deligne cohomology groups \(\mathbb{H}^p (X,\mathbb{Z} (q)_D)\) for all \(p,q\geq 2\), in terms of equivalence classes of holomorphic principal \(B^{p-2} \mathbb{C}^*\)-bundles over \(X\) with \(k\)-connections, for \(k=1,2, \dots, q-1\), where \[ B^{p-2} \mathbb{C}^* ={\underbrace {B\biggl(B \bigl(\cdots B}_{(p-2) \text{ times}}} (\mathbb{C}^*) \cdots \bigr)\biggr) \] is the iterated classifying space of \(\mathbb{C}^*\). It is also shown that the classical Abel-Jacobi isomorphism \(\text{Pic}_0(X) \cong J(X)\) generalizes to the isomorphism between groups of equivalence classes of topologically trivial holomorphic \(B^{p-2} \mathbb{C}^*\)-bundles with \(k\)-connections and Griffiths intermediate Jacobians.