Cohomologies and crossed modules for pre-Lie Rinehart algebras (Q2127670)

The notion of a pre-Lie-Rinehart algebra, recently introduced by \textit{G. Fløystad} et al. [Springer Proc. Math. Stat. 366, 137--159 (2021; Zbl 1487.17055)], is an amalgam of the notions of a pre-Lie algebra and a Lie-Rinehart algebra. Let \({\mathbb K}\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. A pre-Lie-Rinehart algebra consists of four elements (with certain relational conditions): a unitary commutative \({\mathbb K}\)-algebra \(A\); an \(A\)-module \(E\); an \(A\)-module map (called the \textit{anchor}) from \(E\) to the set of derivations of \(A\); and a \({\mathbb K}\)-linear pre-Lie operation \(E\otimes E \to E\). Analogous to a pre-Lie algebra giving a Lie algebra, the pre-Lie operation on \(E\) can be used to define a bracket operation giving \(E\) the structure of a Lie-Rinehart algebra, denoted \(E^c\) and called the sub-adjacent Lie-Rinehart algebra. A representation \({\mathcal E}\) of \(E\) is an \(A\)-module that is a Lie-Rinehart representation for \(E^c\) with an \(A\)-linear map \(E \to \operatorname{Hom}_A({\mathcal E},{\mathcal E})\) that is compatible (in a specified sense) with the representation. \par Any pre-Lie \(A\)-algebra gives a pre-Lie-Rinehart algebra by taking the anchor map to be zero. Several non-trivial examples of pre-Lie-Rinehart algebras are given including an example that follows work of \textit{J. Huebschmann} [Ann. Inst. Fourier 48, No. 2, 425--440 (1998; Zbl 0973.17027)]. Given a commutative \({\mathbb K}\)-algebra \(A\), the functor \(\operatorname{Der}(A, - )\) from \(A\)-modules to itself is (co)-representable by a module \(\Omega^1\). Huebschmann constructed a Lie-Rinehart structure on \(\Omega^1\). Here, the authors use the notion of \(r\)-matrices for a Lie algebra and Poisson algebras to show that a (non-trivial) pre-Lie-Rinehart structure can be formed on \(\Omega^1\). \par Per the title, the main results of the paper involve cohomology for pre-Lie-Rinehart algebras. It is shown (for \(n > 0\)) that the pre-Lie-Rinehart cohomology group \(H^{n+1}_{PRin}(E,{\mathcal E})\) (where \({\mathcal E}\) is a representation of \(E\)) may be identified with the Lie-Rinehart cohomology group \(H^n_{Rin}(E^c, \tilde{\mathcal E})\) for a certain \(E^c\)-representation \(\tilde{\mathcal E}\) determined by \({\mathcal E}\). Given pre-Lie-Rinehart algebras \(E''\) and \(E'\) with \(E'\) abelian and a representation for \(E''\), it is shown that the second cohomology group \(H^2_{PRin}(E'',E')\) determines the equivalence classes of abelian extensions of \(E''\) by \(E'\). \textit{J. M. Casas} et al. [J. Algebra 274, No. 1, 192--203 (2004; Zbl 1046.17006)] introduced the notion of crossed modules for Lie-Rinehart algebras. Here, the authors generalize this concept to pre-Lie-Rinehart algebras. A crossed module consists of a pair \((E, \mathcal{E})\) for a pre-Lie-Rinehart algebra \(E\) and pre-Lie algebra \({\mathcal E}\), along with a representation of \(E\) on \({\mathcal E}\) and a pre-Lie algebra homomorphism \({\mathcal E}\) to \(E\) satisfying certain properties. The associated pair of sub-adjacent objects \((E^c, {\mathcal E}^c)\) forms a crossed module for Lie-Rinehart algebras. It is shown that crossed modules for pre-Lie-Rinehart algebras are in one-to-one correspondence with so-called strict pre-Lie-Rinehart 2-algebras. Further, given a pre-Lie-Rinehart algebra \(F\) and a pre-Lie-Rinehart module \({\mathcal F}\) over \(F\), a crossed extension of \(F\) by \({\mathcal F}\) is an exact sequence of pre-Lie-Rinehart algebras \[ 0 \to {\mathcal F} \to {\mathcal E} \to E \to F \to 0 \] satisfying certain conditions, where \((E,{\mathcal E})\) is a crossed module. It is shown that equivalence classes of crossed extensions of \(F\) by \({\mathcal F}\) may be identified with the third cohomology group \(H^3_{PRin}(F,{\mathcal F})\).