Massey products in differential cohomology via stacks (Q1744186)

The main theme and result of the paper is the construction of Massey products in differential cohomology. For differential cohomology, the authors use the (refined) construction in the context of differential stacks. The ordinary differential cohomology or Deligne cohomology is obtained from these by passing to path components. The new construction is shown to be a refinement of Massey product constructions in ordinary homology, differential forms, and Deligne cohomology. These compatibilities are among the main properties of the newly defined differential Massey products. Further basic properties (which are reminiscent to properties of ordinary Massey products) are established. The last section contains several examples and appliations of the Massey products constructed in the paper, in particular motivated by constructions from string theory. In particular, trivialization of higher structures (e.g. of certain Chern-Simons theories) give rise to stacky differential Massey products. Similarly, to systems arising in anomaly cancellation Massey products are assigned. A feature of the developed theory is that it is set up for calculations, as displayed in the applications.