Relative gerbes (Q2496841)

The concept of gerbes was first introduced by \textit{I. Giraud} with the aim to study non-Abelian second cohomology [Cohomology non-abélienne, Grundlehren 179, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1971; Zbl 0226.14011)]. Later, \textit{J.-L. Brylinski} defined gerbes as sheaves of groupoids with certain axioms [Loop spaces, characteristic classes and geometric quantization, Progress in Math. 107, Birkhäuser Boston Inc., Boston, MA (1993; Zbl 0823.55002)]. The author of the present paper discussed the differential geometry of gerbes and proved that the group of equivalence classes of gerbes gives a geometric realization of integral 3 cohomology classes on manifolds. Through a more elementary approach \textit{D. Chatterjee} [Ph. D. Thesis, Univ. Cambridge, 1998] and \textit{N. Hitchin} [Lectures on special Lagrangian submanifolds, Winter school in minor symmetry, vector bundles and Lagrangian submanifolds (Cambridge, MA, 1999), AMS/IP Stud. Adv. Math. 23, Am. Math. Soc., Providence, R.I, 151--182 (2001; Zbl 1079.14522)] introduced gerbes in terms of transition line bundles for a given cover of the manifold. From this point of view, a gerbe is the one-degree-up generalization of a line bundle, where the line bundle is presented by transition maps. A notable example of a gerbe arises as the obstruction for the existence of a lift of a principal \(G\)-bundle to a central extension of the Lie group. Another example is the associated gerbe of an oriented codimension 3-submanifold of an oriented manifold. The third example is what is called ``basic gerbe'', which corresponds to the generator of the degree 3 integral cohomology of a compact, simple and simply connected Lie group. The basic gerbe over \(G\) is closely related to the basic central extension of the loop group, and it was constructed, from this point of view, by \textit{Brylinski} [loc. cit]. The present paper introduces the notion of relative gerbes for smooth maps of manifolds, and discusses their differential geometry. The equivalence classes of relative gerbes are classified by the relative integral cohomology in degree 3. With this goal in view, at first, in an ample section, the author discusses the relative homology and cohomology of a smooth map between two manifolds. When the map is an inclusion, the singular relative (co)homology of the map coincides with the singular relative (co)homology of the pair. Also, for a continuous map of topological spaces, the relative (co)homology of the map is isomorphic to the (co)homology of the mapping cone. Afterwards, following the Chatterjee-Hitchin perspective on gerbes, the notion of relative gerbe is defined for a smooth map \(\Phi\in C^\infty(M, N)\), between two manifolds \(M\) and \(N\) as a gerbe over the target space together with a quasiline bundle for the pull-back gerbe. It is also proved that the group of equivalence classes of relative gerbes can be characterized by the integral degree 3 relative cohomology of the same map. Finally, in the last section the author develops the differential geometry of relative gerbes. The concepts of relative connection, relative connection curvature, relative Cheeger-Simons differential character, and relative holonomy are introduced. As well, it is proven that a given closed relative three-form arises as curvature of some relative gerbe with connection if and only if the relative three-form is integral. Further, it is shown that a relative gerbe with connection for a smooth map \(\Phi: M\to N\) generates a relative line bundle with connection for the corresponding map of loop spaces \(L\Phi: LM\to LN\).