Extended manifolds and extended equivariant cohomology (Q2518942)

The authors study the geometry of the vector bundle \({\mathbb T}M\equiv TM\bigoplus T^*M\), over a finite dimensional smooth manifold \(M\), called extended tangent bundle, since any vector bundle \({\mathcal T}M\) over \(M\) that enters in the following short exact sequence \(0\to T^*M\to {\mathcal T}M\to TM\to 0\) is isomorphic, even if not canonically, to \({\mathbb T}M\). The motivation to study this geometric structure is to give a natural geometric meaning to the so-called \(B\)-transformations associated to a differential \(2\)-form \(B\) on \(M\). In fact the natural symmetry group \(Diff(M)\) of \(TM\), or \(T^*M\), can be extended by means of the space \(\Omega^2(M)\) of differential \(2\)-forms on \(M\), when one considers \({\mathbb T}M\). In fact any such form \(B:M\to \Lambda^0_2M\) acts on sections \(\zeta+\alpha:M\to {\mathbb T}M\) as follows: \((B,\zeta+\alpha)\mapsto\zeta+\alpha+\zeta\rfloor\alpha\). In particular the authors study symmetries of such an extended tangent space, its relation with the Courant algebroid, equivariant cohomology and its relation with the twisted equivariant de Rham model of Cartan, and localization of the fixed point set à la Atiyah-Bott. The paper after a detailed Introduction splits into six more sections. 2. Extended linear algebra. 3. Category of extended manifolds. 4. Symmetries and actions. 5. Extended equivariant cohomology: Definition and properties. 6. Extended equivariant cohomology: Special cases and examples. 7. Localization.