Square root of gerbe holonomy and invariants of time-reversal-symmetric topological insulators (Q2410646)

Differential cocycles on a smooth manifolds play an important role in mathematical and physical problems. In particular, the local formula for $2d$ Wess-Zumino (WZ) action could be effectively described by using smooth Deligne cocycles and their cohomologies (see [\textit{K. Gawędzki}, Non-perturbative quantum field theory, Plenum Press 101--142 (1988)]). The Feynman amplitude of the WZ action then gets an interpretation of a gerbe holonomy, which is the article under review studies. In author's lecture notes [\textit{K. Gawędzki}, Banach Cent. Publ. 114, 145--180 (2018; Zbl 1397.53044)], basics on differential geometry of bundle gerbes and their applications to topological insulators in 2- and 3-dimension as well as Floquet systems were treated. The article under review fills the gap in literature that the square-root of the gerbe holonomy for the $3d$-index is independent of the choice of the simplices, maps, and the orbifold triangulation (Section 9). The technical core of this paper is Section 6 wherein the author considers the holonomy of a $\mathbb{Z}_2$-equivariant extension of a gerbe $\mathcal{G}$ over a smooth manifold endowed with an involution, and by using a local formula, he constructs a square-root and it is independent of the choice. In Section 7, he provides a non-local formula (Proposition 4), and in Section 11, the author considers Hamiltonian crystal lattices, electronic time-reversal-symmetric insulators, and their Floquet systems and states formulae relating a square-root of holonomy and the (strong) Fu-Kane-Mele invariant. The paper is overall self-contained and easy to read.