Almost Lie algebroids and characteristic classes (Q2633039)

Generalizing the notion of Lie algebroid, an almost Lie algebroid is defined as a vector bundle $E\rightarrow M$ over a smooth manifold $M$ equipped with a vector bundle map $\rho:E\rightarrow TM$ called the anchor map, and a skew symmetric $\mathbb{R}$-bilinear bracket map $\left[\ ,\ \right]_{E}:\Gamma(E)\times\Gamma(E)\rightarrow\Gamma(E)$ on the $C^{\infty}(M)$-module $\Gamma(E)$ of smooth cross-sections of $E\rightarrow M$, such that $\left[ \xi,\cdot\right]_{E}$ is a $C^{\infty}(M)$-derivation for any $\xi\in\Gamma(E)$, where $\xi$ acts on $C^{\infty}(M)$ as the derivation determined by the vector field $\rho\circ\xi\in\chi(M)$, or more explicitly, $\left[\xi,f\eta\right]_{E}=\left( \left( \rho\circ\xi\right) \cdot f\right) \eta+f\left[ \xi,\eta\right]_{E}$ for all $f\in C^{\infty}(M)$ and $\eta\in\Gamma(E)$. If the bracket $\left[\ ,\ \right]_{E}$ further satisfies the Jacobi identity and hence is a Lie bracket, then $E\rightarrow M$ is a Lie algebroid. In this paper, the authors present an example of a concrete anchor map $\rho:E_{0}\rightarrow T\mathbb{R}^{2}$ for the trivial vector bundle $E_{0}:=\mathbb{R}^{2}\times\mathcal{M}_{2}\left( \mathbb{R}\right) \rightarrow\mathbb{R}^{2}$ with the vector space $\mathcal{M}_{2}\left( \mathbb{R}\right) $ of all $2\times2$ matrices over $\mathbb{R}$ as its fiber, such that there is no skew symmetric bracket on $\Gamma(E_0)$ making $E_{0}$ a Lie algebroid, but a concrete almost Lie algebroid bracket $\left[\ ,\ \right]_{E_{0}}$ is provided on $\Gamma(E_0)$ explicitly. It is also shown that there is no pseudo-Euclidean metric on the anchored vector bundle $E_{0}$ to make it a Courant algebroid. Extending the notion of Lie algebroid cohomology to the broader context of almost Lie algebroid $E\rightarrow M$, the authors construct a cohomology exterior algebra $\mathcal{H}^{\ast}(E)$, called the weak cohomology of $E$, which coincides with the standard cohomology $H^{\ast}(E)$ in the case of Lie algebroids. On a vector bundle $A\rightarrow M$, a linear $E$-connection is by definition a map $\nabla:\Gamma(E)\times\Gamma(A)\rightarrow \Gamma(A)$ that is $C^{\infty}(M)$-linear in the first argument and a $C^{\infty}(M)$-derivation in the second argument, and the curvature $R$ of $\nabla$ is defined as $R\left( X,Y\right) :=\nabla_{X}\nabla_{Y}-\nabla_{Y}\nabla_{X}-\nabla_{\left[ X,Y\right] }$ acting on $\Gamma(A)$ for $X,Y\in\Gamma\left( E\right) $, where $\nabla_{X}:=\nabla\left( X,\cdot\right) $. It is shown that the weak cohomology class $\left[ R^{k}\right] $ for $k\geq1$ is independent of the $E$-connection on $A$, facilitating the notion of characteristic classes of an almost Lie algebroid $E\rightarrow M$, shown to be the pull-back from characteristic classes on $M$ via the anchor map $\rho:E\rightarrow TM$.