Courant algebroids (Q997792)

This is a study on a number of properties of Courant algebroids and their connection with gerbes, WZNW-Poisson manifolds and Poisson \(\sigma\)-model. Following the ideas of P. Severa, the authors first explain the ``conducting bundle construction'' and use it to attach an exact Courant algebroid to a Dixmier-Douady gerbe. Then they consider the generalization of the Poisson \(\sigma\)-model by Klimcik and Strobl, in which a consistency condition must be imposed on the bivector field \(\pi\) and the closed three form \(H.\) The authors note that this so-called WZNW-condition is equivalent to the statement that the graph of \(\pi\) is a subalgebra of some twisted Courant algebroid. In the last part of the paper, the authors propose a construction in which, starting from a Lie algebroid over a manifold, one can arrive at a Lie algebroid over the loop space of that manifold. They conjecture that this construction might give the Lie algebroid of symmetries of the WZNW-Poisson \(\sigma\)-model and show that this is indeed true in the special case of the Poisson \(\sigma\)-model.