From loop groups to 2-groups

DOI10.4310/HHA.2007.V9.N2.A4MaRDI QIDQ2372640zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors John Baez, Danny Stevenson, Alissa S. Crans, Urs Schreiber

Publication date 1 August 2007

Published in Homology, Homotopy and Applications (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0504123, http://intlpress.com/hha/v9/n2/

zbMATH Keywords

2-groupgerbeKac-Moody extensionLie 2-algebraloop groupstring group

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Loop groups and related constructions, group-theoretic treatment (22E67)

Abstract: We describe an interesting relation between Lie 2-algebras, the Kac-Moody central extensions of loop groups, and the group $mathrmString(n)$. A Lie 2-algebra is a categorified version of a Lie algebra where the Jacobi identity holds up to a natural isomorphism called the "Jacobiator". Similarly, a Lie 2-group is a categorified version of a Lie group. If $G$ is a simply-connected compact simple Lie group, there is a 1-parameter family of Lie 2-algebras $mathfrak{g}_k$ each having $mathrmLie(G)$ as its Lie algebra of objects, but with a Jacobiator built from the canonical 3-form on $G$. There appears to be no Lie 2-group having $mathfrak{g}_k$ as its Lie 2-algebra, except when $k=0$. Here, however, we construct for integral k an infinite-dimensional Lie 2-group whose Lie 2-algebra is equivalent to $mathfrak{g}_k$. The objects of this 2-group are based paths in $G$, while the automorphisms of any object form the level-$k$ Kac-Moody central extension of the loop group of $G$. This 2-group is closely related to the $k$th power of the canonical gerbe over $G$. Its nerve gives a topological group that is an extension of $G$ by $K(mathbbZ,2)$. When $k=pm1$, this topological group can also be obtained by killing the third homotopy group of $G$. Thus, when $G=mathrmSpin(n)$, it is none other than $mathrmString(n)$.

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• Chern correspondence for higher principal bundles
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• Flat principal 2-group bundles and flat string structures
• Relating gauge gravity to string theory through obstruction
• Fiber 2-functors and Tambara-Yamagami fusion 2-categories
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• Rigid models for 2-gerbes. I: Chern-Simons geometry
• Adjusting higher Chern-Simons theory
• Integrability from categorification and higher Kac-Moody algebras
• Lie's third theorem for Lie -algebras
• Topological sectors for heterotic M5-brane charges under hypothesis H
• Crossed modules of Hopf algebras and of associative algebras and two-dimensional holonomy
• Braiding from 2-groups to 2-groupoids
• Categorified symplectic geometry and the classical string

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