Double Lie algebroids and representations up to homotopy (Q721975)

Double Lie algebroids arose as the infinitesimal counterpart of double Lie groupoids, in the work of Mackenzie in the late 1990's. Recall that a double vector bundle is a commutative square so that all four sides are vector bundles, satisfying a compatibility condition. When both the horizontal sides and the vertical sides are Lie algebroids, satisfying compatibility conditions, one obtains a double Lie algebroid. The precise compatibility conditions were established by the third author [J. Reine Angew. Math. 658, 193--245 (2011; Zbl 1246.53112)], and involve taking duals of vector bundles. Shortly thereafter T. Voronov gave a super-geometric characterization of these compatibility conditions. This paper gives a third characterization, which is not super-geometric nor involves duality, but is rather phrased in terms of sections and 2-representations of Lie algebroids (Theorem 3.6). Recall that VB-algebroids (where VB stands for ``vector bundle'') are in correspondence with 2-representations, upon a choice of splitting. The characterization mentioned above is that the horizontal and vertical VB-algebroid structures have compatible 2-representations, where the compatibility is precisely the notion of matched pair of 2-representations introduced in Definition 3.1.