Multiplicative vector fields on bundle gerbes (Q2168663)

For a principal \(S^1\)-bundle \(P\rightarrow M\) with connection \(\gamma \in\Omega^1(P)\), there is a horizontal lift of vector fields on \(M\) to vector fields on \(P\), \[ \mathrm{Lift}_\gamma \colon\thinspace \mathscr X(M)\rightarrow\mathscr X(P), \] which is a Lie algebra homomorphism if and only if the curvature of \(\gamma\) is zero. In this paper the authors search for the analogue for \(S^1\)-gerbes. An \(S^1\)-gerbe can be interpreted as a central \(S^1\)-extension of a Lie groupoid. Therefore an \(S^1\)-bundle gerbe over \(M\) can be considered as a central \(S^1\)-extension \(P\rightrightarrows X\) of the submersion Lie groupoid \(X\times_M X\rightrightarrows X\) associated with a surjective submersion \(X\rightarrow M\). Then the candidate of \(\mathscr X(P)\) is the category \(\mathbb X(P\rightrightarrows X)\) of {\em multiplicative vector fields} on Lie groupoids \(P\rightrightarrows X\), and the candidate of \(\mathscr X(M)\) is the category of multiplicative vector fields \(\mathbb X(X\times_M X\rightrightarrows X)\). On the other hand, \textit{D. Berwick-Evans} and \textit{E. Lerman} [Pac. J. Math. 309, No. 1, 1--34 (2020; Zbl 1470.18025)] proved that multiplicative vector fields on a Lie groupoid naturally have a structure of a Lie 2-algebra. Therefore \(\mathbb X(P\rightrightarrows X)\) and \(\mathbb X(X\times_M X\rightrightarrows X)\) are both Lie 2-algebras. Here the authors show that the category \(\mathbb X(P\rightrightarrows X)\) is equivalent to the category described by infinitesimal symmetries of the corresponding \(S^1\)-gerbe, viewed as a stack. The first main result in this paper is that a connective structure on \(P\rightrightarrows X\) (i.e., a connection \(\gamma \Omega^1(P)\) and curving \(B\in\Omega^2(X)\)) gives rise to a functor \[ \mathrm{Lift}_\gamma\colon\thinspace \mathbb X(X\times_M X\rightrightarrows X)\rightarrow\mathbb X(P\rightrightarrows X), \] which is a morphism of Lie 2-algebras if and only if the associated 3-curvature 3-\(\mathsf{curv}(B,\gamma)\) of the connective structure vanishes. Moreover, they show that connection-preserving multiplicative vector fields on a bundle gerbe with connective structure inherit a natural Lie 2-algebra structure; moreover, this Lie 2-algebra is canonically quasi-isomorphic to the Poisson-Lie 2-algebra of the 2-plectic base manifold \((M,\chi)\), where \(\chi\) is the 3-curvature of the connective structure. As an application of this result, they give analogues of a formula of \textit{B. Kostant} [Quantization and unitary representations. I: Prequantization, in: Lect. Mod. Anal. Appl. III, Lect. Notes Math. 170, 87--208 (1970; Zbl 0223.53028)] in the 2-plectic and quasi-Hamiltonian contexts.