Smooth functors vs. differential forms

Groupoids, semigroupoids, semigroups, groups (viewed as categories) (18B40) Abstract manifolds and fiber bundles (category-theoretic aspects) (18F15) Connections (general theory) (53C05) Differential geometric aspects of gerbes and differential characters (53C08) Generalizations of fiber spaces and bundles in algebraic topology (55R65)

Abstract: We establish a relation between smooth 2-functors defined on the path 2-groupoid of a smooth manifold and differential forms on this manifold. This relation can be understood as a part of a dictionary between fundamental notions from category theory and differential geometry. We show that smooth 2-functors appear in several fields, namely as connections on (non-abelian) gerbes, as curvatures of smooth functors and as critical points in BF theory. We demonstrate further that our dictionary provides a powerful tool to discuss the transgression of geometric objects to loop spaces.

Review text

In a previous paper [J. Homotopy Relat. Struct. 4, No.~1, 187--244 (2009; Zbl 1189.53026)], the authors established an isomorphism between the categories \(\text{Funct}^{\infty}({\mathcal P}_1(X), {\mathcal B}G)\) and \(Z^1_X(G)^{\infty}\). In this respect, given a smooth manifold \(X\) and a Lie group \(G\), \(\text{Funct}^{\infty}({\mathcal P}_1(X), {\mathcal B}G)\) is the category of smooth functors from the path-groupoid \({\mathcal P}_1(X)\) to the Lie groupoid \({\mathcal B}G\) (i.e., the category with one object whose set of morphisms is the Lie group \(G\)), while \(Z^1_X(G)^{\infty}\) is the category whose objects are the 1-forms \(A \in \Omega^1(X,{\mathfrak g})\) on \(X\) with values in the Lie algebra \({\mathfrak g}\) of \(G\) and whose morphisms \(g : A \to A'\) are the smooth functions \(g : X \to G\) satisfying \[ A' = \text{Ad}_g(A) - g^*(\bar{\theta}), \] where \(\bar{\theta}\) is the right-invariant Maurer-Cartan form on \(G\). In the present paper, the above isomorphism is generalized to 2-functors and 2-forms. Thus, the 2-categories \({\mathcal P}_2(X)\) and \({\mathcal B}{\mathfrak G}\) are introduced to replace \({\mathcal P}_1(X)\) and \({\mathcal B}G\). The path 2-groupoid \({\mathcal P}_2(X)\) is obtained by adding 2-morphisms to \({\mathcal P}_1(X)\), and \({\mathcal B}{\mathfrak G}\) is the 2-category with one object whose set of morphisms is the 2-group \({\mathfrak G}\) (i.e., two groups \(G\), \(H\), with additional structure). The main result of the paper is the equivalence of the smooth 2-functors in \(\text{Funct}^{\infty}({\mathcal P}_2(X), {\mathcal B}{\mathfrak G})\) with the pairs \((A,B) \in \Omega^1(X,{\mathfrak g}) \times \Omega^2(X,{\mathfrak h})\), where \({\mathfrak g}\) and \({\mathfrak h}\) are the Lie algebras of \(G\) and \(H\) and \(A\), \(B\) satisfy \[ dA + [A \wedge A] = t_*(B). \] Three examples of smooth 2-functors are given in Section 4. They appear as connections on non-abelian gerbes, as derivatives of smooth functors and as critical points in BF theory. A generalization of the main result to diffeological spaces is given in Section 5. The paper contains appendices on 2-categories, and on 2-groups and crossed modules.

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