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We discuss a refinement of the traditional notion of Atiyah Lie groupoids (the Lie groupoids which are the Lie integration of Atiyah Lie algebroids of -principal bundles) from differential geometry to higher differential geometry and generally to higher geometry.
Briefly, for an ∞-group in an (∞,1)-topos and a -principal ∞-bundle, its higher Atiyah groupoid is the groupoid object such that the
object of objects is ;
object of morphisms is the collection of all -equivariant maps between all pairs of fibers of .
In these vague words this is precisely the same description as for the traditional Atiyah groupoid. Definition below makes precise what this means in higher geometry.
Besides generalizing the traditional definition to homotopy theory, the notion of higher Atiyah groupoids also generalizes from concrete objects such as Lie groups to general objects in an (∞,1)-topos (general ∞-stacks, not necessarily “supported on points”), notably to moduli ∞-stacks for cocycles in differential cohomology. For instance if we assume that the ambient (∞,1)-topos is cohesive and consider a sylleptic ∞-group, then there is the moduli ∞-stack of -principal ∞-connections and this is itself again a group object. A -principal ∞-bundle is equivalently a -principal ∞-connection “without curving”. For instance if is the circle group in smooth ∞-groupoids, then classifies circle 2-bundle with connection without 2-form part: in parts of the literature this is known as “bundle gerbes with connective structure but without curving”.
So the general definition considered here assigns a higher Atiyah groupoid to a “bundle gerbe with connective structure but no curving”. It turns out that this is the Courant 2-groupoid which Lie integrates the standard Courant Lie 2-algebroid traditionally induced by this data.
The notion of higher Atiyah groupoids is more general still: the definition does not really require that the object fed into the construction is a plain principal ∞-bundle. It may notably also be a genuine principal ∞-connection (hence with “curving”). We show below that the corresponding higher Atiyah groupoid is that groupoid object whose ∞-group of bisections is the quantomorphism n-group of the principal -connection regarded as a prequantum n-bundle.
In summary, the higher geometric generalization of the notion of Atiyah groupoids unifies all three of the traditional notions of Atiyah groupoid, of Courant 2-groupoid and of quantomorphism group and refines each of these to higher geometry:
higher Atiyah groupoid: | standard higher Atiyah groupoid | higher Courant groupoid | groupoid version of quantomorphism n-group |
---|---|---|---|
coefficient for cohomology: | |||
type of fiber ∞-bundle: | principal ∞-bundle | principal ∞-connection without top-degree connection form | principal ∞-connection |
At the same time the definition of higher Atiyah groupoids in (∞,1)-topos theory, def. below, is very simple, almost tautological, identifying it as a very fundamental notion in (∞,1)-topos theory/homotopy type theory.
Higher Atiyah groupoids play a central role in higher prequantum geometry.
under construction
A sequence of time-honored traditional concepts in geometric quantization/prequantum geometry is
Lie groups: | Heisenberg group | quantomorphism group | gauge group | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lie algebras: | Heisenberg Lie algebra | Poisson Lie algebra | twisted vector fields |
For instance in the geometric quantization of the electrically charted particle sigma-model we have a prequantum circle bundle with connection on a bundle on a cotangent bundle which is essentially the pullback of the electromagnetic field-bundle on target spacetime . Its quantomorphism group is the group of diffeomorphisms of the total space of the prequantum bundle which preserve the connection (also called the contactomorphism of regarded as a regular contact manifold). For the following it is convenient to say this using the language of moduli stacks: we may regard as a representable sheaf on the site of smooth manifolds (a “smooth space”) and then moreover as a representable stack on this site (a “smooth groupoid”) and make use of the tautological existence of the moduli stack of -principal connections, which we write (we don’t need further details right now, but they can be found for instance at circle n-bundle with connection for details). By definition this is such that for any a map is equivalently a -principal connection and such that a homotopy between two such maps is equivalently a gauge transformation between two such connections. With this formulation a quantomorphism of the prequantum bundle is equivalently a diagram of the form as on the right of
in the (2,1)-category of stacks, namely a diffeomorphism of the base space of the bundle together with a gauge transformation of -principal connections .
The quantomorphism group is naturally an (infinite dimensional) Lie group. Its Lie algebra is the Poisson bracket Lie algebra. If is equipped with the structure of a Lie group itself (notably if it is a vector space), then the sub-Lie algebra of that on the invariant vectors is the Heisenberg Lie algebra and the Lie group corresponding to that is the Heisenberg group.
One also says that a triangular diagram as above is an autoequivalence of the “modulating” map in the slice (2,1)-category of stacks/smooth groupoids over .
Such autoequivalences in slices are familiar from basic concepts of Lie groupoid theory. For a Lie groupoid, we may regard the inclusion of its manifold of objects as an atlas being a map . Regarding this atlas as an object in the slice (2,1)-category of stacks/smooth groupoids over , its autoequivalences are diagrams as on the right of
This is a diffeomorphism of the smooth manifold of objects equipped with a natural transformation whose component map is a smooth function that assigns to each point a morphism in of the form . This collection of data is known as a bisection of a Lie groupoid. Bisections naturally form a group , which is all the more manifest if we understand them as autoequivalences of the atlas in the slice, called the group of bisections.
This perspective of regarding maps of smooth groupoids as objects in the slice over their codomain (an elementary step in higher category theory/higher topos theory, but not common in traditional differential geometry) turns out to be useful and drives all of the refinements, generalizations and theorems that we discuss in the following: we will see that higher prequantum geometry is essentially the geometry insice higher slice categories of higher stacks over higher moduli stacks of higher principal connections.
Before we get there, notice the following…
The tools of geometric quantization mainly apply to quantum mechanics and only partially to quantum field theory. In particular in the context of extended prequantum field theory in dimension a prequantum bundle over the (phase-)space of fields is to be refined (de-transgressed) to a prequantum n-bundle over the moduli ∞-stack of fields. Therefore in order to apply geometric quantization to extended prequantum field theory to obtain extended quantum field theory we first need extended/higher prequantum geometry.
For instance the prequantum 3-bundle for standard 3d Spin group Chern-Simons theory is modulated by the differential smooth first fractional Pontryagin class
modulating/clsasifying the universal Chern-Simons circle 3-bundle with connection (also known as a bundle 2-gerbe) over the moduli stack of fields of -Chern-Simons theory, which is the moduli stack of -principal connection.
Similarly the prequantum 7-bundle for 7d Chern-Simons theory on string 2-group principal 2-connections is given by the differential smooth second fractional Pontryagin class
modulating/classifying the universal Chern-Simons circle 7-bundle with connection over the moduli 2-stack of string 2-group principal 2-connections.
Therefore we want to lift the above table of traditional notions to higher geometry…
In order to say this, clearly we need some basics of higher geometry…
Important construction principle for (∞,1)-categories: simplicial localization. For a category with some subset of morphisms declared to be “weak equivalences”, the simplicial localization
is the universal -category obtained from by universally turning each weak equivalence into an actual homotopy equivalence in the sense of homotopy theory.
In particular let be a site, assumed for simplicity to have enough points. Declare then that in the functor category , hence in Kan complex-valued presheaves, the weak equivalences are the stalkwise homotopy equivalences of Kan complexes. Then
is called the (∞,1)-topos of (∞,1)-sheaves/∞-stacks on .
An A-∞ algebra-object in such an -topos such that is a group is called an ∞-group “with geometric structure as encoded by the test spaces ”. The canonical source of -groups are the homotopy fiber products of point inclusions of any object X, the loop space object
In fact this are all the ∞-groups that there are, up to equivalence: forimg loop space objects is an equivalence of (∞,1)-categories
between ∞-groups and pointed connected objects. The inverse equivalence is the delooping operation.
We say that such an -topos is cohesive if it is equipped with an adjoint triple of idempotent (co)/(∞,1)-monads
shape modality | flat modality | sharp modality | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
idemp. monad | idemp. comonad | idemp. monad | ||
This implies (strictly speaking we need differential cohesion for that, coming from another adjoint triple of (co)monads) that for every braided ∞-group there is a canonical object which modulats -principal ∞-connections.
Looking at the above table and noticing the above need for higher prequantum bundles, we should try to find an analogous table of concepts in higher geometry, something like this:
slice-automorphism ∞-groups in higher prequantum geometry
(…)
The way all these notions and theorems work is by considering automorphism ∞-groups of the classifying (or rather: modulating) maps of a prequantum ∞-bundle in the slice (∞,1)-topos over the domain. For instance
The others are obtained by succesively forgetting connection data. For instance
and
The extension sequence is then schematically simply the following
in this generality this now includes various other notions, too:
higher Atiyah groupoid: | standard higher Atiyah groupoid | higher Courant groupoid | groupoid version of quantomorphism n-group |
---|---|---|---|
coefficient for cohomology: | |||
type of fiber ∞-bundle: | principal ∞-bundle | principal ∞-connection without top-degree connection form | principal ∞-connection |
For a braided ∞-group and a higher prequantum geometry with respect to there is a long homotopy fiber sequence
Similarly there is the Heisenberg infinity-group extension
The Lie differentiation of the ∞-group extension sequence of prop. is a homotopy fiber sequence of L-∞ algebras
where
is the Poisson Lie n-algebra as defined in (Rogers 11).
is the Lie algebra of vector fields restricted to the Hamiltonian vector fields;
is the chain complex for flat de Rham cohomology in the given degree, regarded as an abelian L-∞ algebra.
The following table shows what this sequence reduces to when one chooses .
higher and integrated Kostant-Souriau extensions:
(∞-group extension of ∞-group of bisections of higher Atiyah groupoid for -principal ∞-connection)
(extension are listed for sufficiently connected )
For a simply connected semisimple compact Lie group such as the spin group, let
be the canonical circle 2-bundle with connection over it. Then the Heisenberg 2-group extension
is the string 2-group extension
(by classification of extensions by cohomology… by Lie 2-algebra computation…)
(and analogously for fivebrane 6-group…)
We now turn to the formal definition of higher Atiyah groupoids and the basic constructions on them.
Let be an (∞,1)-topos. Let be a group object in , an ∞-group.
We define now for every -principal ∞-bundle in a groupoid object in . In order to do so we invoke two basic facts.
The construction of forming the Cech nerve of a morphism consitutes an equivalence of (∞,1)-categories from that of 1-epimorphisms to that of groupoid objects in :
This is a refined version of one of the Giraud-Rezk-Lurie axioms characterizing (∞,1)-topos, discussed at groupoid object in an (∞,1)-category.
In terms of traditional terminology in the literature on topological stacks/differentiable stacks etc, this says that a groupoid object in is equivalently an object which is equipped with an atlas .
Write for the delooping of in (the moduli ∞-stack of -principal ∞-bundles, as the following proposition asserts:
The operation of forming (∞,1)-fibers (homotopy fibers) constitutes an equivalence of ∞-groupoids
This is discussed at principal ∞-bundle.
Using these two facts we now set:
For a -principal ∞-bundle in , its Atiyah groupoid is the groupoid object which is the 1-image projection of the classifying map :
By the discussion at 1-image, the 1-image projection of any morphism in an (∞,1)-topos is equivalently given as the canonical map given by the (∞,1)-colimit over the Cech nerve
This means that regarded as an object of , the Atiyah groupoid is simply the Cech nerve of the classifying map. This means that the definition of Atiyah groupoids in higher geometry is much more fundamental than in traditional geometry.
We discuss how the ∞-group of bisections of a higher Atiyah groupoid is canonically equivalent to the -valued automorphism ∞-group of the modulating map that gave rise to it, regarded as an object in the slice (∞,1)-topos over its codomain.
To this end we need the following two definitions
For a morphism in an (∞,1)-topos , its -valued automorphism ∞-group is the dependent product over over the automorphism ∞-group of regarded as an object in the slice (∞,1)-topos :
For non-concrete codomains one is usually interested in the concretification of this group. To be discussed… For an example see at The quantomorphism -group below.
For a morphism in , its -valued slice automorphism -group according to prop. sits in an (∞,1)-pullback diagram
where is the ordinary automorphism ∞-group of in .
For a groupoid object in an (∞,1)-topos , its ∞-group of bisections is the -valued automorphism -group, def. , of the atlas of under prop. :
With this the following proposition is immediate, but important for the interpretation of higher Atiyah groupoids:
For a morphism in an (∞,1)-topos , modulating an fiber ∞-bundle , there is an canonical equivalence of ∞-groups
We may read this as saying that the higher Atiyah groupoid of an fiber ∞-bundle is the universal solution to the problem of finding a groupoid object whose ∞-group of bisections reproduces a given slice automorphism ∞-group. In many applications, this is indeed the crucial property that drives the interest in higher Atiyah groupoids, see the Examples below.
Let be an (∞,1)-topos which is cohesive. As discussed there, this implies that there is an internal notion of differential cohomology and in particular of principal ∞-connections in . We note here how the canonical forgetful maps between moduli ∞-stacks of principal ∞-bundles equipped with differing degree of differential refinement induce canonical inclusions of the corresponding higher Atiyah groupoids.
Let braided ∞-group. Then there exists, by cohesion, a canonical notion of -principal ∞-connections, whose moduli ∞-stack we denote . This is equipped with a canonical map
which “forgets the connection”. Then for a -principal ∞-connection we write
for the corresponding underlying map.
The dependent sum along this map induces a canonical map of ∞-groups
If we regard as a prequantum n-bundle then this is a canonical inclusion of the quantomorphism n-group into the -group of “-twisted diffeomorphisms”.
If is even a sylleptic ∞-group, then the above moduli -stacks have a further delooping and we obtain a 2-step sequence of forgetful maps
Accordingly:
The dependent sum along these maps induces inclusions of -groups
This now interprets as the inclusion
of the quantomorphism n-group into the -group of bisections of the higher Courant groupoid;
-group of bisections of the higher Courant groupoid into that of “-twisted diffeomorphisms”.
In summary we have the following table of inclusions
slice-automorphism ∞-groups in higher prequantum geometry
See below at Examples– The traditional Courant Lie 2-algebroid for more on this.
We first show how the general notion of higher Atiyah groupoid reproduces various traditonal structures.
We discuss how the traditional notion of Atiyah Lie groupoids in traditional differential geometry is a special case of higher Atiyah groupoids of def. .
To set this up we take the ambient (∞,1)-topos to be
Smooth∞Grpd and make use of the canonical embeddings
SmthMfd DiffeologicalSpace SmoothSpace Smooth∞Grpd,
and
LieGrpd differentiable stack Smooth∞Grpd
which are understood in the following.
For a Lie group, a smooth manifold and a -principal bundle, the traditional Atiyah Lie groupoid of is equivalent to that of def. .
Write for the classifying map of , by prop. .
By remark the higher Atiyah groupoid is simply the Cech nerve of this map. Since and and hence are all 0-truncated objects, hence a 1-truncated object, this Cech nerve is 2-coskeletal and hence is sufficient to consider the first three degrees. By definition these are
where denotes the homotopy fiber product of with itself, and so forth. To see what this object is, pick any CartSp, and observe that
(using that the (∞,1)-categorical hom-(∞,1)-functor preserves (∞,1)-limits) is equivalently the set of triples consisting of two smooth functions and a gauge transformation between the pulled-back bundles on .
Since is topologically contractible, and hence every -principal bundle over admits a section, every such triple induces a function, in fact a bijection, from the set of lifts of to the set of lifts which are -equivariant. By -equivariant every pair consisting of a single lift and its image already uniquely determes . Therefore the above set of triples is naturally isomorphic to the set of smooth functions . This is precisely the smooth manifold of morphisms of the traditional Atiyah Lie groupoid. Since this is true for all CartSp and naturally so, and since CartSp is a site of definition of Smooth∞Grpd it follows by the (∞,1)-Yoneda lemma (which in the present cases reduces to the ordinary Yoneda lemma), we have a natural equivalence
In this manner it is immediate to check that this identification respects all the structure maps, and hence the above Cech nerve is indeed identified as the simplicial manifold which is the nerve of the traditional Atiyah Lie groupoid .
There is a traditional construction which assigns to a bundle gerbe “with connective structure but without curving” a Courant Lie 2-algebroid. We discuss here how this is the Lie differentiation of the corresponding higher Atiyah groupoid.
In order to do so, we pick again, as above, as ambient context Smooth∞Grpd.
For the circle Lie group (which is in particular a sylleptic ∞-group), the sequence of maps of moduli ∞-stacks
of prop. is presented under the canonical equivalence Smooth∞Grpd by the image under the Dold-Kan correspondence of the evident sequence of chain maps
where on the left we have the Deligne complex for degree-3-ordinary differential cohomology.
This is a direct consequence of the discussion at circle n-bundle with connection.
This makes precise how
is the moduli 2-stack of circle 2-bundles with connection;
is the moduli 2-stack of circle 2-bundle “with connection but without curving”;
is the moduli 2-stack of circle 2-group-principal 2-bundles.
Let
be the map modulating circle 2-bundle with connection but “without curving”. Then then higher Atiyah groupoid of th -principal 2-bundle classified by this map has as higher Atiyah groupoid the corresponding Courant Lie 2-groupoid: the object which is the Lie integration of the traditional Courant Lie 2-algebroid associated with .
To see we observe that the corresponding 2-group of bisections is
This has as objects diagrams in of the form
hece equivalently pairs consisting of a diffeomorphism and a gauge transformation (of 2-connections without curving)
The morphisms are accordingly the suitable natural transformations of these diagrams.
This is precisely the 2-group of “bundle gerbe symmetries” of which is studient in (Collier). With this identification the main result there is the above claim.
Moreover, the canonical inclusions of smooth 2-groups of prop. reproduces, under Lie differentiation, the inclusion of the Poisson Lie 2-algebra into that Lie 2-algebra of sections of the corresponding Courant Lie 2-algebroid observed in (Rogers 10).
For the group of bisections of the corresponding Atiyah groupoid is the quantomorphism group of regarded as a prequantum bundle.
(…)
In (Rogers 11) is a proposal for the generalization of the notion of Poisson bracket Lie algebra of a symplectic manifold to a notion of Poisson Lie n-algebra induced by an n-plectic manifold. Since the Lie integration of the Poisson bracket is traditionally known as the quantomorphism group, the Lie integration of these Poisson Lie n-algebras should be called an quantomorphism n-group.
We here discuss a general abstract theory of quantomorphism n-groups as ∞-groups of bisections of a higher Atiyah groupoid associated with a principal ∞-connections. Then we show that under Lie differentiation this reproduces the construction in (Rogers 11).
higher and integrated Kostant-Souriau extensions:
(∞-group extension of ∞-group of bisections of higher Atiyah groupoid for -principal ∞-connection)
(extension are listed for sufficiently connected )
For all of the following, let be a cohesive (∞,1)-topos equipped with differential cohesion. Let be equipped with the structure of a braided ∞-group. Then there is a canonical object which is the moduli ∞-stack of -principal ∞-connections.
Fox such a principal ∞-connection given by a map
By prop. the -valued automorphism -group according to def. sits in an (∞,1)-pullback diagram of the form
By remark we want to pass to its concretification. Indeed, in the above diagram the mapping ∞-stack is not quite yet the correct moduli ∞-stack for -principal ∞-connections on , but instead its differential concretification is, as defined at concretification - Examples - Of differential moduli. Therefore the following definition states the above pullback diagram with that replacement.
Let be a braided ∞-group as above and let be a -principal ∞-connection.
The quantomorphism ∞-group of a is the object fitting into the (∞,1)-pullback
The Hamiltonian symplectomorphism ∞-group is the 1-image of the canonical map .
The quantomorphism ∞-group in an ∞-group extension of the Hamiltonian symplectomorphism -group of def. by the ∞-group of concretified flat ∞-connections on : we have a homotopy fiber sequence
Moreover, at least at the level of the underlying objects, this extension is classified by the cocycle in that we have a long homotopy fiber sequence
We now restrict this to a special case and describe it more in detail:
Let Smooth∞Grpd, let SmthMfd Smooth∞Grpd and let be the circle n-group. Finally let be an n-plectic form and a prequantization by a prequantum circle n-bundle.
The Lie differentiation of the ∞-group extension sequence of prop. is a homotopy fiber sequence of L-∞ algebras
where
is the Poisson Lie n-algebra as defined in (Rogers 11).
is the Lie algebra of vector fields restricted to the Hamiltonian vector fields;
is the chain complex for flat de Rham cohomology in the given degree, regarded as an abelian L-∞ algebra.
(…) Heisenberg group (…)
If has itself ∞-group structure, then it is natural to restrict the quantomorphism ∞-group to that subgroup of the Hamiltonian symplectomorphism ∞-group whose elements come from the -∞-action on itself. This is the corresponding Heisenberg ∞-group.
With all assumtions as above, let be an ∞-group and let
(where on the right we have the automorphism ∞-group of the underlying object ) the inclusion that exhibits the left -∞-action on itself.
The the Heisenberg ∞-group is the (∞,1)-pullback in the diagram
The following is an immediate consequence of the definition
The Heisenberg ∞-group is an ∞-group extension of by : we have a homotopy fiber sequence of ∞-groups
In Smooth∞Grpd consider a connected, simply connected compact semisimple Lie group, say the Spin group . Then the Killing form invariant polynomial is a pre-3-plectic form on the moduli stack of -principal connections:
This has a higher geometric prequantization by the smooth first fractional Pontryagin class, a map
The transgression of this to maps oout of the circle yields a circle 2-bundle with connection
This is a prequantum circle 2-bundle which prequantizes the canonical differential 3-form on , the one which is left invariant and at the neutral element is .
Consider now the higher prequantum geometry of this 2-connection. So now .
Observe that
because is assumed to be simply connected. (Notice that does appear here with its canonical smooth structure: while a gauge transformation from the trivial -principal connection to itself is a constant function along , the smooth structure in comes from how this may vary in parameterized collections ).
Therefore by prop. we have an ∞-group extension
This exhibits the Heisenberg 2-group here as the string 2-group :
higher Atiyah groupoid: | standard higher Atiyah groupoid | higher Courant groupoid | groupoid version of quantomorphism n-group |
---|---|---|---|
coefficient for cohomology: | |||
type of fiber ∞-bundle: | principal ∞-bundle | principal ∞-connection without top-degree connection form | principal ∞-connection |
The above identification of higher Atiyah groupoids of “bundle gerbes with connective structure but without curving” with those Lie integrating the corresponding standard Courant Lie 2-algebroid is directly implied (under the above translations) by the main result in
The corresponding inclusion of the Poisson Lie 2-algebra into the Lie 2-algebra of bisections of the Courant Lie 2-algebroid was first observed in
in the context of 2-plectic geometry over smooth manifolds.
The Poisson Lie n-algebra over an n-plectic manifold, which by prop. is the Lie differentiation of the quantomorphism n-group of any prequantum circle n-bundle prequantizing the -plectic form, has been proposed in
Most further statements here will appear in
Last revised on February 24, 2021 at 00:08:10. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.