Structure theory for higher WZW terms
With application to the derivation of the cohomological nature of M-brane charge.
Abstract. The famous Wess-Zumino-Witten term in 2d conformal field theory turns out to be a fundamental concept in the intersection of Lie theory and differential cohomology: it is a Deligne 3-cocycle on a Lie group whose Dixmier-Douady class is a Lie group 3-cocycle with values in and whose curvature is the corresponding Lie algebra 3-cocycle, regarded as a left-invariant form. I explain how this generalizes to higher group stacks, and how there is a natural construction from any -cocycle on any super L-∞ algebra to a WZW-type Deligne cocycle on a higher super group stack integrating . Every such higher WZW term serves as a local Lagrangian density, hence as an action functional for a -brane sigma model on , and I explain how the homotopy stabilizer group stacks of such higher WZW terms are the Lie integration of the Noether current algebras of these sigma-models. As an application, we consider the bouquet of iterated super -extensions emanating from the superpoint, which turns out to be the “old brane scan” of string/M-theory completed by the branes “with tensor multiplet fields”, such as the D-branes and the M5-brane. I explain how applying the general theory of higher WZW terms to the -extensions corresponding to the M2/M5-brane yields the “BPS charge M-theory super Lie algebra” together with a Lie integration to a super 6-group stack. From running a Serre spectral sequence we read off from this result how the naive nature of M5-brane charge as being in ordinary cohomology gets refined to twisted generalized cohomology in accordance with the conjectures stated in (Sati 10, section 6.3, Sati 13, section 2.5).
This is based on joint work with Domenico Fiorenza and Hisham Sati (notably Fiorenza-Schreiber-Stasheff 12, Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 13, Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 15). The statement about the Noether current algebras is due to (Sati-Schreiber 15, Schreiber-Khavkine).
These are lecture notes for
a lecture series at: Roger Picken (org.), Seminário de Teoria Quântica do Campo Topológica, Lisbon, Jan-Mar 2016 (part I on 26 Jan 2016, part II on 29 Jan 2016, part III on 23 Feb 2016, part IV on 26 Feb 2016, part V on 15 Mar 2016, part VI on 18 Mar 2016))
a lecture series Prequantum field theory and the Green-Schwarz WZW terms at: Harald Grosse, Danny Stevenson, Richard Szabo (org.), Higher Structures in String Theory and Quantum Field Theory, ESI Program, Vienna, November 30-December 4, 2015
a minicourse at: Hisham Sati (org.) Flavors of Cohomology, Pittsburgh June 3-5, 2015
based on the more comprehensive lecture notes at
Full details are in (dcct), an expositional survey is at Higher Prequantum Geometry.
Related talk notes include:
The term “M-theory” has come to refer to two related but distinct concepts. On the one hand it became the chiffre for the elusive hypothetical non-perturbative theory of which perturbative string theory is the perturbation theory, in a suitable limit. But in practice the term is used for something concrete and largely precise, that is expected to be the first-order approximation to this: classical 11-dimensional supergravity with M-brane effects included, such as BPS charges, membrane instanton contributions and gauge enhancement at ADE singularities (each of these is discussed in more detail below).
It turns out that all or most of these “M-brane effects” refer to the prequantum field theory of the Green-Schwarz sigma-models for the M2-brane and the M5-brane (which by charge duality also involve the KK-monopole and the M9-brane) on the given supergravity target spacetimes. A fairly decent mathematical understanding of this does actually exist in the literature, even if it is often not made very explicit.
Here we are concerned with making this mathematically fully explicit and precise, and refining the mathematics a bit more such as to see a bit further.
We find that most of what is known about “M-theory” in the restrictive sense above, and some things not known before, is all concisely enoced in definite globalizations of an higher WZW term denoted (a variant of the Green-Schwarz action functional). In summary we discuss here the following:
There is a canonical cocycle on 11-dimensional super-Minkowski spacetime with coefficients in the rational quaternionic Hopf fibration, which is naturally complexified by adding the associative 3-form ;
a definite globalization of the WZW term is equivalently
an 11-dimensional super spacetime, possibly with orbifold singularities, and equipped with a field configuration of 11-dimensional supergravity that solves the Einstein equations of motion;
which is equipped with the structure of a fibration with fibers G2-manifolds – the setup of M-theory on G2-manifolds;
and equipped with classical anomaly-cancellation that makes the M2-brane- and the M5-brane Green-Schwarz sigma-model on this target spacetime be globally well defined (an issue that has been left completely open in previous literature).
The higher cover of the superisometry group is The M-Theory BPS charge super Lie 6-algebra refinement of the M-theory super Lie algebra, whose nil-elements characterize the BPS charge of the super-spacetime.
The volume holonomy of over associative submanifolds are the membrane instanton contributions.
Moreover (but these two points we do not further discuss here):
One may also see that the moduli space of local choices for , regarded as a higher prequantization of the cocycle, locally gives the fundamental representation of E7, exhibiting U-duality. But this we do not discuss here.
The conformal field theories in the near-horizon limit of M2/M5-black brane configurations (as in AdS4/CFT3 and AdS7-CFT6) arise as the small fluctuations of the Green-Schwarz sigma-models around classical M-brane configurations embedded into the asymptotic AdS-boundary (Claus-Kallosh-Proeyen 97,Dall’Agata-Fabri-Fraser-Fré-Termonia-Trigiante 98, Claus-Kallosh-Kumar-Townsend 98, Pasti-Sorokin-Tonin 99). (This is for the abelian case of single branes, we get to the all-important nonabelian case below).
Therefore, for making progress with the open question of formulating M-theory proper, a key issue is a precise understanding of the cohomological nature of M-brane charges (Sati 10) as twisted differential cohomology along the lines above.
In these lectures here we discuss how to rigorously derive this, and a bit more, at the level of rational homotopy theory/de Rham cohomology.
Indeed, in most of the existing literature, M-brane charges are being regarded in de Rham cohomology. But it is well known (see (Distler-Freed-Moore 09) for the state of the art) that in the small coupling limit where the perturbation theory of type II string theory applies, the brane charges are not just in (twisted, self-dual) de Rham cohomology, but instead in a (twisted, self-dual) equivariant generalized cohomology theory, namely in real (-equivariant) topological K-theory, of which de Rham cohomology is only the rational shadow under the Chern character map. This makes a crucial difference (Maldacena-Moore-Seiberg 01, Evslin-Sati 06): the differentials in the Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence for K-theory describe how de Rham cohomology classes receive corrections as they are lifted to K-theory: some charges may disappear, others may appear.
But the lift of this situation from F1/Dp-branes to M-branes had been missing. The open question is: Which equivariant generalized cohomology theory do M-brane charges take values in?
brane theory | generalized cohomology theory for brane charges |
---|---|
F1/Dp-branes in type II string theory | twisted K-theory |
M2/M5 in M-theory | open |
These lectures here are to prepare the ground for mathematically addressing this question. Discussion of the non-rational generalized M-brane cohomology thery itself is beyond the scope of this lecture, but see the talk Equivariant cohomology of M2/M5-branes.
We recall the definition of Deligne cohomology, of the Deligne cocycle which is the traditional WZW term and of L-∞ algebras. Then we discuss the -algebra of infinitesimal symmetries of any Deligne cocycle on a manifold, called the “Poisson bracket L-∞ algebra”.
In Session II we generalize this to higher WZW terms defined on higher group stacks and and Session III we generalize to the finite symmetries of these higher WZW terms, which form themselves a higher group stack.
It is familiar from Dirac charge quantization and from prequantization, that when given a closed differential 2-form , then the extra data needed in order to have a circle group-valued parallel transport along paths such that for contractible paths it equals the integral of over a cobounding disk, is a -principal connection with curvature .
The concept of a cocycle in degree- Deligne cohomology is precisely the generalization of this situation as is generalized to a closed -form, for any and parallel transport is generalized to higher parallel transport over -dimensional “worldvolumes”. Generally one may think of such a cocycle as representing a circle (p+1)-bundle with connection. For this is also known as a bundle gerbe with connection.
The higher WZW terms that we are concerned with here are a particular class of Deligne cocycles. Therefore we begin by briefly reviewing Deligne cohomology.
Let be a smooth manifold and let be an open cover. Consider then the following double complex.
where vertically we have the de Rham differential and horizontally the Cech differential given by alternating sums of pullback of differential forms.
The corresponding total complex has in degree the direct sum of the entries in this double complex which are on the th nw-se off-diagonal and has the total differential
with denoting form degree. This is the Cech-Deligne complex of .
A Cech-Deligne cocycle in degree (“bundle gerbe with connection”) is data such that
The curvature of a Cech-Deligne cocycle is the uniquely defined closed differential -form such that on all patches
We also say that is a prequantization of .
In the language of sheaf cohomology, Cech-Deligne cohomology of is equivalently the sheaf hypercohomology with coefficients in the chain complex of abelian sheaves which we denote by
and regard as an object in the derived category over the site of smooth manifolds.
The assignment of curvature is given by the evident morphism of chain complexes of sheaves
If we then denote a Deligne cocycle as a morphism
in the derived category, then the fact that it prequantizes a form is the statement that there is a commuting diagram (namely in the homotopy theory of smooth higher stacks) of the form
The other evident morphism out of the Deligne complex is
where on the right we have the complex concentrated on in degree . Under forming abelian sheaf cohomology this map sends Deligne cocycles to cocycles in ordinary differential cohomology, sometimes called their Dixmier-Douady class.
The key property of the Deligne complex is
The Deligne complex is the homotopy fiber product of with via these two maps:
if we write
then there is a homotopy pullback diagram of the form
For details see around this proposition at Deligne cohomology .
On Lie groups , those closed -forms which are left invariant forms may be identified, via the general theory of Chevalley-Eilenberg algebras, with degree -cocycles in the Lie algebra cohomology of the Lie algebra corresponding to . We have where is the Maurer-Cartan form on . These cocycles in turn may arise, via the van Est map, as the Lie differentiation of a degree--cocycle in the Lie group cohomology of itself, with coefficients in the circle group .
This happens to be the case notably for a simply connected compact semisimple Lie group such as SU or Spin, where , hence , is the Lie algebra 3-cocycle in transgression with the Killing form invariant polynomial . This is, up to normalization, a representative of the de Rham image of a generator of .
Generally, by the discussion at geometry of physics – principal bundles, the cocycle modulates an infinity-group extension which is a circle p-group-principal infinity-bundle
whose higher Dixmier-Douady class class is an integral lift of the real cohomology class encoded by under the de Rham isomorphism. In the example of Spin and this extension is the string 2-group.
Such a Lie theoretic situation is concisely expressed by a diagram of smooth homotopy types of the form
where is the de Rham coefficients (see also at geometry of physics – de Rham coefficients) and where the homotopy filling the diagram is what exhibits as a de Rham representative of .
Now, by the very homotopy pullback-characterization of the Deligne complex (here), such a diagram is equivalently a prequantization of :
For as above, we have and so here is a circle 2-bundle with connection, often referred to as a bundle gerbe with connection. As such, this is also known as the WZW gerbe or similar.
This terminology arises as follows. In (Wess-Zumino 84) the sigma-model for a string propagating on the Lie group was considered, with only the standard kinetic action term. Then in (Witten 84) it was observed that for this action functional to give a conformal field theory after quantization, a certain higher gauge interaction term has to the added. The resulting sigma-model came to be known as the Wess-Zumino-Witten model or WZW model for short, and the term that Witten added became the WZW term. In terms of string theory it describes the propagation of the string on the group subject to a force of gravity given by the Killing form Riemannian metric and subject to a B-field higher gauge force whose field strength is . In (Gawedzki 87) it was observed that when formulated properly and generally, this WZW term is the surface holonomy functional of a connection on a bundle gerbe on . This is equivalently the that we just motivated above.
Later, such WZW terms, or at least their curvature forms , were recognized all over the place in quantum field theory. For instance the Green-Schwarz sigma-models for super p-branes each have an action functional that is the sum of the standard kinetic action plus a WZW term of degree .
In general WZW terms are “gauged” which means, as we will see, that they are not defined on the given smooth infinity-group itself, but on a bundle of differential moduli stacks over that group, such that a map is a pair consisting of a map and of a higher gauge field on (a “tensor multiplet” of fields).
Here we discuss the general construction and theory of such higher WZW terms.
For a graded vector space, for homogenously graded elements, and for a permutation of elements, write for the product of the signature of the permutation with a factor of for each interchange of neighbours to involved in the permutation.
An L-∞ algebra is
for each a multilinear map called the -ary bracket
of degree
such that
each is graded antisymmetric, in that for every permutation and homogeneously graded elements then
the generalized Jacobi identity holds:
for all , all and homogeneously graded elements (here the inner sum runs over all -unshuffles ).
There are various different conventions on the gradings possible, which lead to similar formulas with different signs.
In lowest degrees the generalized Jacobi identity says that
for : the unary map squares to 0:
1: for : the unary map is a graded derivation of the binary map
hence
When all higher brackets vanish, then for :
this is the graded Jacobi identity. So in this case the -algebra is equivalently a dg-Lie algebra.
When is possibly non-vanishing, then on elements on which vanishes then the generalized Jacobi identity for gives
This shows that the Jacobi identity holds up to an “exact” term, hence up to homotopy.
Assume now for simplicity that is degreewise finite dimensional, Write for its degreewise dual.
Given an L-∞ algebra , def. , which is is finite type (in that it is degreewise finite dimensional) its Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra is the dg-algebra
whose underlying graded algebra is the graded Grassmann algebra on , hence the graded-symmetric algebra on , and whose differential is given on generators co-component-wise by the linear dual of the higher brackets:
The construction of def. constitutes a full and faithful functor
from -algebras of finite type whose essential image consists of those dg-algebras whose underlyoing graded algebra is free graded-commutative, i.e. a graded Grassmann algebra.
Using this proposition, it is often more convenient to reason with the CE-algebras than with the -algebras directly.
On connective -algebras (those whose underlying chain complex is concentrated in non-negative degrees), passage to degree-0 chain homology constitutes a functor (“0-truncation”) to plain Lie algebras
We discuss the traditional definition of the Poisson bracket of a (pre-)symplectic manifold, highlighting how conceptually it may be understood as the algebra of infinitesimal symmetries of any of its prequantizations.
Let be a smooth manifold. A closed differential 2-form is a symplectic form if it is non-degenerate in that the kernel of the operation of contracting with vector fields
is trivial: .
If is just closed with possibly non-trivial kernel, we call it a presymplectic form. (We do not require here the dimension of the kernel restricted to each tangent space to be constant.)
Given a presymplectic manifold , then a Hamiltonian for a vector field is a smooth function such that
If is such that there exists at least one Hamiltonian for it then it is called a Hamiltonian vector field. Write
for the -linear subspace of Hamiltonian vector fields among all vector fields
When is symplectic then, evidently, there is a unique Hamiltonian vector field, def. , associated with every Hamiltonian, i.e. every smooth function is then the Hamiltonian of precisely one Hamiltonian vector field (but two different Hamiltonians may still have the same Hamiltonian vector field uniquely associated with them). As far as prequantum geometry is concerned, this is all that the non-degeneracy condition that makes a closed 2-form be symplectic is for. But we will see that the definitions of Poisson brackets and of quantomorphism groups directly generalize also to the presymplectic situation, simply by considering not just Hamiltonian fuctions but pairs of a Hamiltonian vector field and a compatible Hamiltonian.
Let be a presymplectic manifold. Write
for the linear subspace of the direct sum of Hamiltonian vector fields, def. , and smooth functions on those pairs for which is a Hamiltonian for
Define a bilinear map
by
called the Poisson bracket, where is the standard Lie bracket on vector fields. Write
for the resulting Lie algebra. In the case that is symplectic, then and hence in this case
Let and let for the canonical coordinates on one copy of and that on the other (“canonical momenta”). Hence let be a symplectic vector space of dimension , regarded as a symplectic manifold.
Then is spanned over by the canonical bases vector fields . These basis vector fields are manifestly Hamiltonian vector fields via
Moreover, since is connected, these Hamiltonians are unique up to a choice of constant function. Write for the unit constant function, then the nontrivial Poisson brackets between the basis vector fields are
This is called the Heisenberg algebra.
More generally, the Hamiltonian vector fields corresponding to quadratic Hamiltonians, i.e. degree-2 polynomials in the and , generate the affine symplectic group of . The freedom to add constant terms to Hamiltonians gives the extended affine symplectic group.
Example serves to motivate a more conceptual origin of the definition of the Poisson bracket in def. .
Write
for the canonical choice of differential 1-form satisfying
If we regard as the cotangent bundle of the Cartesian space , then this is what is known as the Liouville-Poincaré 1-form.
Since is contractible as a topological space, every circle bundle over it is necessarily trivial, and hence any choice of 1-form such as may canonically be thought of as being a connection on the trivial -principal bundle. As such this is a prequantization of .
Being thus a circle bundle with connection, has more symmetry than its curvature has: for any smooth function, then
is the gauge transformation of , leading to a different but equivalent prequantization of .
Hence while a vector field is said to preserve (is a symplectic vector field) if the Lie derivative of along vanishes
in the presence of a choice for the right condition to ask for is that there is such that
For more on this see also at prequantized Lagrangian correspondence.
Notice then the following basic but important fact.
For a presymplectic manifold and a 1-form such that then for the condition is equivalent to the condition that makes
a Hamiltonian for according to def. :
Moreover, the Poisson bracket, def. , between two such Hamiltonian pairs is equivalently given by the skew-symmetric Lie derivative of the corresponding vector fields on the :
Using Cartan's magic formula and by the prequantization condition the we have
This gives the first statement. For the second we first use the formula for the de Rham differential and then again the definition of the
For a presymplectic manifold with such that , consider the Lie algebra
with Lie bracket
Then by (2) the linear map
is an isomorphism of Lie algebras
from the Poisson bracket Lie algebra, def. .
This shows that for exact pre-symplectic forms the Poisson bracket Lie algebra is secretly the Lie algebra of infinitesimal symmetries of any of its prequantizations. In fact this holds true also when the pre-symplectic form is not exact:
For a presymplectic manifold, a Cech-Deligne cocycle
for a prequantization of is
an open cover ;
1-forms ;
smooth function
such that
on all ;
on all ;
on all .
The quantomorphism Lie algebra of is
with bracket
For a presymplectic manifold and a prequantization, def. , the linear map
constitutes an isomorphism of Lie algebras
between the Poisson bracket algebra of def. and that of infinitesimal quantomorphisms, def. .
The condition on the infinitesimal quantomorphisms, together with the Cech-Deligne cocycle condition says that on
and hence that there is a globally defined function such that . This shows that the map is an isomrophism of vector spaces.
Now over each the the situation for the brackets is just that of corollary implied by (2), hence the morphism is a Lie homomorphism.
The following fact is immediate, but important.
Given a presymplectic manifold , then the Poisson bracket Lie algebra , def. , is a central Lie algebra extension of the algebra of Hamiltonian vector fields, def. , by the degree-0 de Rham cohomology group of : there is a short exact sequence of Lie algebras
Hence when is connected, then is an -extension of the Hamiltonian vector fields:
Moreover, given any choice of splitting of the underlying short exact sequence of vector spaces as , which is equivalently a choice of Hamitlonian for each Hamiltonian vector field , the Lie algebra cohomology 2-cocycle which classifies this extension is
The morphism is on elements given just by projection onto the direct summand of vector fields, taking a Hamiltonian pair to . This is surjective by the very definition of , in fact is the image of this map regarded as a morphism . Moreover, the kernel of this projection is manifestly the space of Hamiltonian pairs of the form . By the defining constraint these are precisely the pairs for which . This gives the short exact sequence as stated.
Generally, given a Lie algebra and an -valued 2-cocycle in Lie algebra cohomology, then the Lie algebra extension that it classifies is with bracket
Applied to the case at hand, given a choice of splitting this yields
Consider again example where is a symplectic vector space and where we restrict along the inclusion of the translation vector fields to get the Heisenberg algebra. Then the KS-extension of prop. also pulls back:
The Lie algebra cohomology 2-cocycle which classifiesthe Kostant-Souriau extension, manifestly restricts to the Heisenberg cocycle .
In the discussion above we amplified that the definition of the Poisson bracket of a symplectic form has an immediate generalization to presymplectic forms, hence to any closed differential 2-form. This naturally suggests to ask for higher analogs of this bracket for the case of of closed differential (p+2)-forms for .
Indeed, the natural algebraic form of definition of Hamiltonian vector fields makes immediate sense for higher , with the Hamiltonians now being -forms, and the natural algebraic form of the binary Poisson bracket of def. makes immediate sense as a bilinear pairing for any :
However, one finds that for then this bracket does not satisfy the Jacobi identity. On the other hand, the failure of the Jacobi identity turns out to be an exact form, and hence in the spirit of regarding the shift of a differential form by a de Rham differential as a homotopy or gauge transformation this suggests that the bracket might still give a Lie algebra upto higher coherent homotopy, called a strong homotopy Lie algebra or L-∞ algebra. This turns out to indeed be the case (n-plectic+geometry#Rogers 10).
For , we say that a pre-(p+1)-plectic manifold is a smooth manifold equipped with a closed degree- differential form .
This is called an (p+1)-plectic manifold if the kernel of the contraction map
is trivial.
Given a pre--plectic manifold , def. , write
for the subspace of the direct sum of vector fields on and differential p-forms on satisfying
We call these the pairs of Hamiltonian forms with their Hamiltonian vector fields.
Given a pre--plectic manifold , def. , define an L-∞ algebra , to be called the Poisson bracket Lie (p+1)-algebra as follows.
The underlying chain complex is the truncated de Rham complex ending in Hamiltonian forms as in def. :
with the Hamiltonian pairs, def. , in degree 0 and with the 0-forms (smooth functions) in degree .
The non-vanishing -brackets are defined to be the following
.
Definition indeed gives an L-∞ algebra in that the higher Jacobi identity is satisfied.
For the special case of -plectic , prop. is due to (Rogers 10, lemma 3.7), for the general pre--plectic case this is (FRS 13b, prop. 3.1.2).
Repeatedly apply Cartan's magic formula as well as the consequence to find that for all vector fields and differential forms (of any degree, not necessarily closed) one has
With this, the statement follows straightforwardly.
There is an evident generalization of the prequantization, def. , of closed 2-forms by circle bundles with connection, hence by degree-2 cocycles in Deligne cohomology, to the prequantization of closed -forms by degree--cocycles in Deligne cohomology.
Given a pre-(p+1)-plectic manifold , then a prequantization is a Cech-Deligne cocycle , the prequantum (p+1)-bundle, whose curvature, def. , equals :
In terms of diagrams in the homotopy theory of smooth homotopy types, def. describes lifts of the form
This way there is an immediate generalization of def. to forms and cocycles of higher degree:
Let be any Cech-Deligne-cocycle relative to an open cover of , which gives a prequantum n-bundle for . The L-∞ algebra is the dg-Lie algebra (regarded as an -algebra) whose underlying chain complex is the Cech total complex made to end in Hamiltonian Cech cocycles
;
with differential given by .
The non-vanishing dg-Lie brackets on this complex are given by the evident action of vector fields on all the components of the Cech cochains by Lie derivative:
.
One then finds a direct higher analog of corollary (its proof however is requires a bit more work):
There is an equivalence in the homotopy theory of L-∞ algebras
between the -algebras of def. and def. (in particular def. does not depend on the choice of ) whose underlying chain map satisfies
Proposition says that all the higher Poisson -algebras are -algebras of symmetries of Deligne cocycles prequantizing the give pre--plectic form, higher “quantomorphisms”.
In fact the dg-algebra makes yet another equivalent interpretation of manifest: it is also a resolution of the Dickey bracket of conserved currents for WZW sigma-models. This we come to below.
The higher Poisson brackets come with a higher analog of the Kostant-Souriau extension, prop. .
Given a pre-(p+1)-plectic manifold ,
the Poisson bracket Lie (p+1)-algebra , def. , is an L-∞ extension of the Hamiltonian vector fields by the truncated de Rham complex, def. , there is a homotopy fiber sequence of -algebras of the form
To better see what this means, we may truncate this down to a statement about ordinary Lie algebras.
Given a pre-(p+1)-plectic manifold , the 0-truncation, prop. , of the higher Kostant-Souriau extension of prop. is a Lie algebra extension of the Hamiltonian vector fields by the de Rham cohomology group .
We recall how Lie integration sends L-∞ algebras to higher smooth group stacks (smooth ∞-groups) and then discuss how every L-∞ cocycle Lie integrates to a Deligne cocycle on a differential extension of – these are higher WZW terms. As an example we consider the collection of -cocycles on the super translation Lie algebra and its higher extensions.
For this purpose we need to pass (along the Dold-Kan correspondence) from the abelian derived category over the site of smooth manifolds to the “nonabelian derived category”, by generalizing chain complexes to Kan complexes and generally to simplicial sets. Therefore we now consider simplicial presheaves over the site of smooth Cartesian spaces localized at the local (i.e. stalk-wise) weak homotopy equivalences as models for higher smooth stacks
We assume here a working familiarity with at least the basic idea of such a setup for higher differential geometry, for details see geometry of physics – smooth homotopy types.
Rationally, what we are going to be concerned with is all enoced in L-∞ algebra cohomology for super L-∞ algebras. We briefly recall this, following (Sati-Schreiber-Stasheff 09). For more exposition see at super Cartan geometry. All algebras here are over .
Recall the dg-algebraic perspective on -algebras of finite type from prop. .
First of all the operation of sending finite dimensional Lie algebras to their Chevalley-Eilenberg algebras is a fully faithful functor
from the category of Lie algebras to the opposite category of dg-algebras.
Generalizing the image of this functor to those dg-algebras of the form for an -graded vector space of finite type yields the opposite of the category of (connective) L-∞ algebras of finite type:
Accordingly, super L-∞ algebras are given by generalizing this further to being an -graded super vector space of finite type and regarding the Grassmann algebra as -bigraded (see at signs in supergeometry).
The category carries a canonical stucture of a category of fibrant objects whose
weak equivalences are the morphisms that induce quasi-isomorphisms on the underlying chain complexes ;
fibrations include those morphisms that are degreewise surjections.
(Pridham 07), see this proposition.
Recall from def. that denotes the line Lie (p+2)-algebra, whose Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra is generated in degree with vanishing differential.
then an -algebra homomorphism
Given a (super-)Lie algebra , then morphisms in of the form
are in natural bijection with cocycles of degree in the standard Lie algebra cohomology of .
Since the morphisms in are equivalent to morphisms going the other direction in we have a bijection
Here the dg-algebra homomorphisms send the generator to some element of degree in , and the respect for the differential implies that . This is the classical definition of Lie algebra cocycles.
This immediately generalizes:
For a super- algebra, then an -valued -cocycle on is a morphism in of the form
hence equivalently an closed element of degree .
The homotopy fiber of such is the L-∞ algebra extension that it classifies
For , the homotopy fiber of a cocycle (def. ) is given by
(Fiorenza-Rogers-Schreiber 13, theorem 3.1.13)
For a Lie algebra and an ordinary 2-cocycle on , then the homotopy fiber of is the classical central Lie algebra extension induced by .
For a semisimple Lie algebra and the canonical 3-cocycle, its homotopy fiber is the string Lie 2-algebra.
These -extension will in general carry new cocycles, so that towers and bouquets of higher extensions emanate from any one super -algebra
This reminds one of Whitehead towers in homotopy theory. And indeed, there is Lie integration of -algebras, which connects them both to smooth ∞-groups and to rational homotopy theory:
For a Lie algebra, then the 2-coskeleton of the simplicial set
is the simplicial nerve of the simply connected Lie group corresponding to :
To remember the smooth structure on we simply parameterize this over smooth manifolds . Then the simplicial presheaf
gives the smooth stack delooping of the Lie group :
This generalizes verbatim to a Lie integration functor
from (super-)L-∞ algebras to simplicial presheaves over supermanifolds, hence (super-)smooth ∞-stacks.
(Henriques 08, Fiorenza-Schreiber-Stasheff 12).
Notice that for a Sullivan model, then over the point this is the Sullivan construction of rational homotopy theory. For instance the Eilenberg-MacLane spaces
This will be key in the following: -theory allows to derive the cohomological nature of the charges of super p-branes, but only in rational homotopy theory. The open problem to be discussed below is concerned with the ambiguity of lifting this to genuine (non-rational) homotopy theory.
We will apply to the -theoretic constructions above a higher analog of Lie integration, below, in order to pass from infinitesimal to finite structures. This requires some basics of homotopy theory and ∞-groupoid theory which we briefly review here. For more on the following see at geometry of physics – homotopy types and at geometry of physics – smooth homotopy types.
One of the fundamental principles of modern physics is the gauge principle. It says that every field configuration in physics – hence absolutely everything in physics – is, in general, a gauge field configuration. This in turn means that given two field configurations and , then it makes no sense to ask whether they are equal or not. Instead what makes sense to ask for is a gauge transformation that, if it exists, exhibits as being gauge equivalent to via :
This satisfies obvious rules, so obvious that physics textbooks usually don’t bother to mention this. First of all, if there is yet another field configuration and a gauge transformation from to , then there is also the composite gauge transformation
and this composition is associative.
Moreover, these being equivalences means that they have inverses,
such that the compositions
and
equal the identity transformation.
Obvious as this may be, in mathematics such structure gets a name: this is a groupoid or homotopy 1-type whose objects are field configurations and whose morphisms are gauge transformations.
But notice that in the last statement above about inverses, we were actually violating the gauge principle: we asked for a gauge transformation of the form (transforming one way and then just transforming back) to be equal to the identity transformation .
But the gauge principle applies also to gauge transformations themselves. This is the content of higher gauge theory. For instance a 2-form gauge field such as the Kalb-Ramond field has gauge-of-gauge transformations. In the physics literature these are best known in their infinitesimal approximation, which are called ghost-of-ghost fields (for some historical reasons). In fact physicists know the infinitesimal “Lie algebroid” version of Lie groupoids and their higher versions as BRST complexes.
This means that in general it makes no sense to ask whether two gauge transformations are equal or not. What makes sense is to ask for a gauge-of-gauge transformation that turns one into the other
Now it is clear that gauge-of-gauge transformations may be composed with each other, and that, being equivalences, they have inverses under this composition. Moreover, this composition of gauge-of-gauge transformations is to be compatible with the already existing composition of the first order gauge transformations themselves. This structure, when made explicit, is in mathematics called a 2-groupoid or homotopy 2-type.
But now it is clear that this pattern continues: next we may have a yet higher gauge theory, for instance that of a 3-form C-field, and then there are third order gauge transformations which we must use to identify, when possible, second order gauge transformations. They may in turn be composed and have inverses under this composition, and the resulting structure, when made explicit, is called a 3-groupoid or homotopy 3-type.
This logic of the gauge principle keeps applying, and hence we obtain an infinite sequence of concepts, which at stage are called n-groupoids or homotopy n-types. The limiting case where we never assume that some high order gauge-of-gauge transformation has no yet higher order transformations between them, the structure in this limiting case accordingly goes by the name of infinity-groupoid or just homotopy type.
One way to make this idea of -groupoids precise is to model them as Kan complexes. This we now explain.
We first review now “bare” homotopy types, meaning: homotopy types without any further geometric structure. Further below we equip bare homotopy types with smooth geometric structure and speak of smooth homotopy types.
This distinction between bare and smooth homotopy types is easily understood: bare homotopy types generalize discrete groups and groupoids (groupoids are homotopy 1-types), while smooth homotopy types generalize Lie groups and Lie groupoids (and diffeological groups and diffeological groupoids etc.).
bare homotopy types | smooth homotopy types |
---|---|
discrete groups, groupoids | Lie groups, Lie groupoids |
2-groups, 2-groupoids | Lie 2-groups, Lie 2-groupoids |
∞-groups,∞-groupoids | smooth ∞-groups, smooth ∞-groupoids |
Beware that there is a deep fact which, when handled improperly, may mislead to suggest that there is geometry already in bare homotopy types. Namely each topological space represents a bare homotopy type and every bare homotopy type is represented by some topological space, up to equivalence (we come to this below). Due to this, it turns out that for instance every bare ∞-group is presented by a topological group. Nevertheless, however, the categories (in fact: (∞,1)-categories) of topological groups and of ∞-groups are not equivalent. Rather, the bare homotopy type represented by a topological space has the interpretation as being the fundamental ∞-groupoid of that topological space, a generalization of the more familiar fundamental groupoid. In passing from topological spaces to their fundamental (-)groupoids the topological cohesion between their points is forgotten, and only the “shape” of the topological space is retained.
An ∞-groupoid is, first of all, supposed to be a structure that has k-morphisms for all , which for go between -morphisms. A useful tool for organizing such collections of morphisms is the notion of a simplicial set. This is a functor on the opposite category of the simplex category , whose objects are the abstract cellular -simplices, denoted or for all , and whose morphisms are all ways of mapping these into each other. So we think of such a simplicial set given by a functor
as specifying
a set of objects;
a set of morphisms;
a set of 2-morphisms;
a set of 3-morphisms;
and generally
as well as specifying
functions that send -morphisms to their boundary -morphisms;
functions that send -morphisms to identity -morphisms on them.
The fact that is supposed to be a functor enforces that these assignments of sets and functions satisfy conditions that make consistent our interpretation of them as sets of -morphisms and source and target maps between these. These are called the simplicial identities.
But apart from this source-target matching, a generic simplicial set does not yet encode a notion of composition of these morphisms.
For instance for the simplicial set consisting of two attached 1-cells
and for an image of this situation in , hence a pair of two composable 1-morphisms in , we want to demand that there exists a third 1-morphisms in that may be thought of as the composition of and . But since we are working in higher category theory, we want to identify this composite only up to a 2-morphism equivalence
From the picture it is clear that this is equivalent to demanding that for the obvious inclusion of the two abstract composable 1-morphisms into the 2-simplex we have a diagram of morphisms of simplicial sets
A simplicial set where for all such a corresponding such exists may be thought of as a collection of higher morphisms that is equipped with a notion of composition of adjacent 1-morphisms.
For the purpose of describing groupoidal composition, we now want that this composition operation has all inverses. For that purpose, notice that for
the simplicial set consisting of two 1-morphisms that touch at their end, hence for
two such 1-morphisms in , then if had an inverse we could use the above composition operation to compose that with and thereby find a morphism connecting the sources of and . This being the case is evidently equivalent to the existence of diagrams of morphisms of simplicial sets of the form
Demanding that all such diagrams exist is therefore demanding that we have on 1-morphisms a composition operation with inverses in .
In order for this to qualify as an -groupoid, this composition operation needs to satisfy an associativity law up to coherent 2-morphisms, which means that we can find the relevant tetrahedras in . These in turn need to be connected by pentagonators and ever so on. It is a nontrivial but true and powerful fact, that all these coherence conditions are captured by generalizing the above conditions to all dimensions in the evident way:
let be the simplicial set – called the th -horn – that consists of all cells of the -simplex except the interior -morphism and the th -morphism.
Then a simplicial set is called a Kan complex, if for all images of such horns in , the missing two cells can be found in - in that we can always find a horn filler in the diagram
The basic example is the nerve of an ordinary groupoid , which is the simplicial set with being the set of sequences of composable morphisms in . The nerve operation is a full and faithful functor from 1-groupoids into Kan complexes and hence may be thought of as embedding 1-groupoids in the context of general ∞-groupoids.
The concept of simplicial sets and of Kan complexes is secretly well familiar from the singular simplicial complex construction from the definition of singular homology and singular cohomology. In our context we may think of the singular simplicial complex of a topological space as being its fundamental infinity-groupoid of paths and higher paths. We here briefly review the standard definition and properties of the singular simplicial complex.
For , the topological n-simplex is, up to homeomorphism, the topological space whose underlying set is the subset
of the Cartesian space , and whose topology is the subspace topology induces from the canonical topology in .
The coordinate expression in def. – also known as barycentric coordinates – is evidently just one of many possible ways to present topological -simplices. Another common choice are what are called Cartesian coordinates. Of course nothing of relevance will depend on which choice of coordinate presentation is used, but some are more convenient in some situations than others.
In low dimension the topological -simplices of def. look as follows.
For this is the point, .
For this is the standard interval object .
For this is the filled triangle.
For this is the filled tetrahedron.
For , and , the th -face (inclusion) of the topological -simplex, def. , is the subspace inclusion
induced under the coordinate presentation of def. , by the inclusion
which “omits” the th canonical coordinate:
The inclusion
is the inclusion
of the “right” end of the standard interval. The other inclusion
is that of the “left” end .
For and the th degenerate -simplex (projection) is the surjective map
induced under the barycentric coordinates of def. under the surjection
which sends
For Top a topological space and a natural number, a singular -simplex in is a continuous map
from the topological -simplex, def. , to .
Write
for the set of singular -simplices of .
So to a topological space is associated a sequence of sets
of singular simplices. Since the topological -simplices from def. sit inside each other by the face inclusions of def.
and project onto each other by the degeneracy maps, def.
we dually have functions
that send each singular -simplex to its -face and functions
that regard an -simplex as beign a degenerate (“thin”) -simplex. All these sets of simplicies and face and degeneracy maps between them form the following structure.
A simplicial set is
for each injective map of totally ordered sets
a function – the th face map on -simplices;
for each surjective map of totally ordered sets
a function – the th degeneracy map on -simplices;
such that these functions satisfy the simplicial identities.
These face and degeneracy maps satisfy the following simplicial identities (whenever the maps are composable as indicated):
if ,
if .
It is straightforward to check by explicit inspection that the evident injection and restriction maps between the sets of singular simplices make into a simplicial set. We now briefly indicate a systematic way to see this using basic category theory, but the reader already satisfied with this statement should skip ahead to the Singular chain complex.
The simplex category is the full subcategory of Cat on the free categories of the form
This is called the “simplex category” because we are to think of the object as being the “spine” of the -simplex. For instance for we think of as the “spine” of the triangle. This becomes clear if we don’t just draw the morphisms that generate the category , but draw also all their composites. For instance for we have_
A functor
from the opposite category of the simplex category to the category Set of sets is canonically identified with a simplicial set, def. .
One checks by inspection that the simplicial identities characterize precisely the behaviour of the morphisms in and .
This makes the following evident:
The topological simplices from def. arrange into a cosimplicial object in Top, namely a functor
With this now the structure of a simplicial set on is manifest: it is just the nerve of with respect to , namely:
For a topological space its simplicial set of singular simplicies (often called the singular simplicial complex)
is given by composition of the functor from example with the hom functor of Top:
The singular simplicial complex, def. , has a further special property which we discuss now.
For each , , the -horn or -box is the subsimplicial set
which is the union of all faces except the one.
This is called an outer horn if or . Otherwise it is an inner horn.
The inner horn, def. of the 2-simplex
with boundary
looks like
The two outer horns look like
and
respectively.
A Kan complex is a simplicial set that satisfies the Kan condition,
which says that all horns of the simplicial set have fillers/extend to simplices;
which means equivalently that the unique homomorphism from to the point (the terminal simplicial set) is a Kan fibration;
which means equivalently that for all diagrams in sSet of the form
there exists a diagonal morphism
completing this to a commuting diagram;
which in turn means equivalently that the map from -simplices to -horns is an epimorphism
The singular simplicial complex , def. , of any topological space is a Kan complex, def. .
Write for the topological horn, the subspace of the topological -simplex consisting of its boundary but excluding the interior of its th face. From the geometry is clear that there exists a projection which is a retract, in that the composite
is the identity. This provides the required fillers: if
is a given horn in the singular simplicial complex, then the composite
is a filler.
a pair of sets (the set of objects) and (the set of morphisms)
equipped with functions
where the fiber product on the left is that over ,
such that
takes values in endomorphisms;
defines a partial composition operation which is associative and unital for the identities; in particular
and ;
every morphism has an inverse under this composition.
This data is visualized as follows. The set of morphisms is
and the set of pairs of composable morphisms is
The functions are those which send, respectively, these triangular diagrams to the left morphism, or the right morphism, or the bottom morphism.
For a set, it becomes a groupoid by taking to be the set of objects and adding only precisely the identity morphism from each object to itself
For a group, its delooping groupoid has
;
.
For and two groups, group homomorphisms are in natural bijection with groupoid homomorphisms
In particular a group character is equivalently a groupoid homomorphism
Here, for the time being, all groups are discrete groups. Since the circle group also has a standard structure of a Lie group, and since later for the discussion of Chern-Simons type theories this will be relevant, we will write from now on
to mean explicitly the discrete group underlying the circle group. (Here “” denotes the “flat modality”.)
For a set, a discrete group and an action of on (a permutation representation), the action groupoid or homotopy quotient of by is the groupoid
with composition induced by the product in . Hence this is the groupoid whose objects are the elements of , and where morphisms are of the form
for , .
As an important special case we have:
For a discrete group and the trivial action of on the point (the singleton set), the corresponding action groupoid according to def. is the delooping groupoid of according to def. :
Another canonical action is the action of on itself by right multiplication. The corresponding action groupoid we write
The constant map induces a canonical morphism
This is known as the -universal principal bundle. See below in for more on this.
For a groupoid, def. , its simplicial nerve is the simplicial set with
the set of sequences of composable morphisms of length , for ;
with face maps
being,
for the functions that remembers the th object;
for
the two outer face maps and are given by forgetting the first and the last morphism in such a sequence, respectively;
the inner face maps are given by composing the th morphism with the st in the sequence.
The degeneracy maps
are given by inserting an identity morphism on .
Spelling this out in more detail: write
for the set of sequences of composable morphisms. Given any element of this set and , write
for the comosition of the two morphism that share the th vertex.
With this, face map acts simply by “removing the index ”:
Similarly, writing
for the identity morphism on the object , then the degenarcy map acts by “repeating the th index”
This makes it manifest that these functions organise into a simplicial set.
These collections of maps in def. satisfy the simplicial identities, hence make the nerve into a simplicial set. Moreover, this simplicial set is a Kan complex, where each horn has a unique filler (extension to a simplex).
(A 2-coskeletal Kan complex.)
The nerve operation constitutes a full and faithful functor
In the familiar construction of singular homology recalled above one constructs the alternating face map chain complex of the simplicial abelian group of singular simplices, def. . This construction is natural and straightforward, but the result chain complex tends to be very “large” even if its chain homology groups end up being very “small”. But in the context of homotopy theory one is to consider all objects notup to isomorphism, but of to weak equivalence, which for chain complexes means up to quasi-isomorphisms. Hence one should look for the natural construction of “smaller” chain complexes that are still quasi-isomorphic to these alternating face map complexes. This is accomplished by the normalized chain complex construction:
For a simplicial abelian group its alternating face map complex of is the chain complex which
in degree is given by the group itself
with differential given by the alternating sum of face maps (using the abelian group structure on )
Using the simplicial identity, prop. , for one finds:
Given a simplicial abelian group , its normalized chain complex or Moore complex is the -graded chain complex which
is in degree the joint kernel
of all face maps except the 0-face;
with differential given by the remaining 0-face map
We may think of the elements of the complex , def. , in degree as being -dimensional disks in all whose boundary is captured by a single face:
an element in degree 1 is a 1-disk
an element is a 2-disk
a degree 2 element in the kernel of the boundary map is such a 2-disk that is closed to a 2-sphere
etc.
Given a simplicial group (or in fact any simplicial set), then an element is called degenerate (or thin) if it is in the image of one of the simplicial degeneracy maps . All elements of are regarded a non-degenerate. Write
for the subgroup of which is generated by the degenerate elements (i.e. the smallest subgroup containing all the degenerate elements).
For a simplicial abelian group its alternating face maps chain complex modulo degeneracies, is the chain complex
which in degree 0 equals is just ;
which in degree is the quotient group obtained by dividing out the group of degenerate elements, def. :
whose differential is the induced action of the alternating sum of faces on the quotient (which is well-defined by lemma ).
Def. is indeed well defined in that the alternating face map differential respects the degenerate subcomplex.
Using the mixed simplicial identities we find that for a degenerate element, its boundary is
which is again a combination of elements in the image of the degeneracy maps.
Given a simplicial abelian group , the evident composite of natural morphisms
from the normalized chain complex, def. , into the alternating face map complex modulo degeneracies, def. , (inclusion followed by projection to the quotient) is a natural isomorphism of chain complexes.
For a simplicial abelian group, there is a splitting
of the alternating face map complex, def. as a direct sum, where the first direct summand is naturally isomorphic to the normalized chain complex of def. and the second is the degenerate cells from def. .
By prop. there is an inverse to the diagonal composite in
This hence exhibits a splitting of the short exact sequence given by the quotient by .
Given a simplicial abelian group , then the inclusion
of the normalized chain complex, def. into the full alternating face map complex, def. , is a natural quasi-isomorphism and in fact a natural chain homotopy equivalence, i.e. the complex is null-homotopic.
Given a simplicial abelian group , then the projection chain map
from its alternating face maps complex, def. , to the alternating face map complex modulo degeneracies, def. , is a quasi-isomorphism.
Consider the pre-composition of the map with the inclusion of the normalized chain complex, def. .
By theorem the vertical map is a quasi-isomorphism and by prop. the composite diagonal map is an isomorphism, hence in particular also a quasi-isomorphism. Since quasi-isomorphisms satisfy the two-out-of-three property, it follows that also the map in question is a quasi-isomorphism.
Consider the 1-simplex regarded as a simplicial set, and write for the simplicial abelian group which in each degree is the free abelian group on the simplices in .
This simplicial abelian group starts out as
(where we are indicating only the face maps for notational simplicity).
Here the first , the direct sum of two copies of the integers, is the group of 0-chains generated from the two endpoints and of , i.e. the abelian group of formal linear combinations of the form
The second is the abelian group generated from the three (!) 1-simplicies in , namely the non-degenerate edge and the two degenerate cells and , hence the abelian group of formal linear combinations of the form
The two face maps act on the basis 1-cells as
Now of course most of the (infinitely!) many simplices inside are degenerate. In fact the only non-degenerate simplices are the two 0-cells and and the 1-cell . Hence the alternating face maps complex modulo degeneracies, def. , of is simply this:
Notice that alternatively we could consider the topological 1-simplex and its singular simplicial complex in place of the smaller , then the free simplicial abelian group of that. The corresponding alternating face map chain complex is “huge” in that in each positive degree it has a free abelian group on uncountably many generators. Quotienting out the degenerate cells still leaves uncountably many generators in each positive degree (while every singular -simplex in is “thin”, only those whose parameterization is as induced by a degeneracy map are actually regarded as degenerate cells here). Hence even after normalization the singular simplicial chain complex is “huge”. Nevertheless it is quasi-isomorphic to the tiny chain complex found above.
The statement of the Dold-Kan correspondence now is the following.
For an abelian category there is an equivalence of categories
between
the category of simplicial objects in ;
where
For the case that is the category Ab of abelian groups, the functors and are nerve and realization with respect to the cosimplicial chain complex
that sends the standard -simplex to the normalized Moore complex of the free simplicial abelian group on the simplicial set , i.e.
Given a chain complex , consider the 1-simplices of its incarnation as a simplicial set. By theorem these correspond to the maps of chain complexes
from the normalized chains complex of the 1-simplex. By example the latter is
Hence a map of chain complexes as above is:
two group homomorphisms , hence equivalently two elements ;
one group homomorphism , hence equivalently an element ;
such that
i.e. such that
.
Generally we have the following
For the simplicial abelian group is in degree given by
and for a morphism in the corresponding map
is given on the summand indexed by some by the composite
where
is the epi-mono factorization of the composite .
The natural isomorphism is given on by the map
which on the direct summand indexed by is the composite
The natural isomorphism is on a chain complex given by the composite of the projection
with the inverse
of
(which is indeed an isomorphism, as discussed at Moore complex).
With the explicit choice for as above we have that and form an adjoint equivalence
It follows that with the inverse structure maps, we also have an adjunction the other way round: .
Hence in concclusion the Dold-Kan correspondence allows us to regard chain complexes (in non-negative degree) as, in particular, special simplicial sets. In fact as simplicial sets they are Kan complexes and hence infinity-groupoids:
The simplicial set underlying any simplicial group (by forgetting the group structure) is a Kan complex.
In fact, not only are the horn fillers guaranteed to exist, but there is an algorithm that provides explicit fillers. This implies that constructions on a simplicial group that use fillers of horns can often be adjusted to be functorial by using the algorithmically defined fillers. An argument that just uses ‘existence’ of fillers can be refined to give something more ‘coherent’.
For detailed lecture notes see at geometry of physics – smooth sets and geometry of physics – smooth homotopy types.
Where a simplicial set or Kan complex is a model for a bare homotopy type, in order to equip such with smooth structure we may just add the information that says for each Cartesian space what the collection of smooth maps into our smooth-homotopy-type-to-be-described is. That collection should itslef be a Kan complex (exhibiting the fact that between any two smooth maps there may be equivalences, and higher order equivalences).
This means that we consider smooth homotopy types to be given by simplicial presheaves
By the Grothendieck nerve construction discussed above, every Lie groupoid induces a simplicial presheaf, the one which to a test Cartesian space assigns the nerve of the bare groupoid of smooth functions into :
In particular for a Lie group with the corresponding one-object Lie groupoid, then its incarnation as a simplicial sheaf is
By the Dold-Kan correspondence discussed above, every presheaf of chain complexes on CartSp presents a simplicial presheaf. In particular every bare chain complex gives a constant simplicial presheaf. Let be a discrete abelian group and write for the chain complex concentrated on in degree , then we write
for the corresponding simplicial presheaf.
On the other hand, let be the sheaf of smooth functions, regarded as taking values in additive abelian groups. Then we write
In contrast, the simplicial presheaf which comes from the real numbers regarded as a discrete group we write
In order to get the right homotopy theory of such smooth homotopy types, we just need to declare that a morphism between two such simplicial presheaves is a weak equivalence if it restricts to a weak homotopy equivalence between simplicial sets/Kan complexes on small enough neighbourhoods (i.e. stalks) around any point.
We write
for the resulting homotopy theory of simplicial presheaves with weak equivalences the stalk-wise weak homotopy equivalences. Technically this is the (∞,1)-topos which arises from simplicial localization of the simplicial presheaves at the local weak homotopy equivalences. In practice, the main point to know about this is that it means that for and two presheaves with values in Kan complexes, then a homomorphism between them in is in general a span of plain morphisms in ,
where the left morphism, is a stalkwise weak homotopy equivalence. This just means that when mapping between the simplicial presheaves, we need to remember that we may replace the domain by locally weakly equivalent object.
This procedure of exhibiting morphisms in a homotopy they by spans in a more naive theory is more widely known in the context of Lie groupoids, where such spans are known as Morita morphisms or Hilsum-Skandalis morphisms or groupoid bibundles or what not. These are the special case of the above spans when and happen to be (the simplicial presheaves represented by) Lie groupoids. More technical discussion of what is really going on here is at category of fibrant objects.
For a smooth manifold and a Lie group, they represent simplicial sheaves and via example . A morphism from to in the homotopy theory of smooth homotopy types may pass through an locally weakly equivalent resolution of . Such is given by any choice of open cover . Let be the corresponding Cech nerve, then a span as above is given by
Inspection shows that here the top morphism is equivalently a Cech cocycle on with coefficients in , representing a -principal bundle on .
For more lecture notes on this see at geometry of physics – principal bundles.
We write
for the incarnation of the Deligne complex (in the given degrees) as a simplicial presgeaf, via the Dold-Kan correspondence.
Then for a smooth manifold as in example , a morphism from to \mathbf[B}^{p+1}(\mathbb{R}/\Gamma)_{conn}
in the homotopy theory of simplicial presheaves is equivalently a choice of a good open cover and a span
Inspection shows that these are equivalently the Cech-Deligne cocyles discussed above.
We discuss differential refinements of the “path method” of Lie integration for L-infinity-algebras. The key observation for interpreting the following def. is this:
For an L-∞ algebra, and given a smooth manifold , then
the flat L-∞ algebra valued differential forms on are equivalently the dg-algebra homomorphisms
a finite gauge transformation between two such forms is equivalently a homotopy
For more details see at infinity-Lie algebroid-valued differential form – Integration of infinitesimal gauge transformations.
For an L-∞ algebra, write:
for the Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra of an L-∞ algebra ;
for the cosimplicial smooth manifold with corners which is in degree the standard -simplex ;
for the de Rham complex of those differential forms on which have sitting instants, in that in an open neighbourhood of the boundary they are constant perpendicular to any face on their value at that face;
for for the de Rham complex of differential forms on which when restricted to each point of have sitting instants on ;
for the subcomplex of forms that in addition are vertical differential forms with respect to the projection .
For an L-∞ algebra, write
for the simplicial presheaf
which is the universal Lie integration of ;
for the simplicial presheaf
of those differential forms on with at least one leg along ;
for the canonical inclusion of the degree-0 piece, regarded as a simplicial constant simplicial presheaf.
From the discussion at Lie integration:
;
for an ordinary Lie algebra, then for the 2-coskeleton (by this discussion)
for the simply connected Lie group associated to by traditional Lie theory. If is furthermore a semisimple Lie algebra, then also
for the line Lie p+1-algebra, then (by this proposition)
The constructions in def. are clearly functorial: given a homomorphism of L-∞ algebras
it prolongs to a homomorphism of presheaves
and of simplicial presheaves
etc.
According to the above, a degree--L-∞ cocycle on an L-∞ algebra is a homomorphism of the form
to the line Lie (p+2)-algebra . The formal dual of this is the homomorphism of dg-algebras
which manifestly picks a -closed element in .
Precomposing this with a flat L-∞ algebra valued differential form
Given an L-∞ cocycle
as in example , then its group of periods is the discrete additive subgroup of those real numbers which are integrations
of the value of , as in example , on L-∞ algebra valued differential forms
over the boundary of the (p+3)-simplex (which are forms with sitting instants on the -dimensional faces that glue together; without restriction of generality we may simply consider forms on the -sphere ).
Given an L-∞ cocycle , as in example , then the universal Lie integration of , via def. and remark , descends to the -coskeleton
up to quotienting the coefficients by the group of periods of , def. , to yield the bottom morphism in
This is due to (FSS 12).
Here and in the following we are freely using example to identify . Establishing this is the only real work in prop. .
Write
for the operation that evaluates a simplicial presheaf on the point and then extends the result back as a constant presheaf. This comes with a canonical counit natural transformation
For a Lie group and
for its stacky delooping, which is the universal moduli stack of -principal bundles, then given a -principal bundle modulated by a map
then a lift in the homotopy-commutative diagram
is equivalently a flat connection on . Hence is the universal moduli stack for flat connections. Whence the symbol “”.
Given any smooth infinity-group, denote the double homotopy fiber of the counit , def. as follows:
We say that
is the flat de Rham coefficients for ;
is the Maurer-Cartan form of .
In the situation of example where is an ordinary Lie groups and with denoting the Lie algebra of , then we get that
is the sheaf of flat Lie algebra valued differential forms;
is (under the Yoneda embedding) the Maurer-Cartan form on in the traditional sense.
We discuss now how every L-∞ cocycle induces via differential higher Lie integration a higher WZW term for a -brane sigma model with target space a differential extension of a smooth infinity-group that integrates . In the next section below we characterize these differential extensions and find that they are given by bundles of moduli stacks for higher gauge fields on the -brane worldvolume. This means that the higher WZW terms obtained here are in fact higher analogs of the gauged WZW model.
(The following construction is from FSS 13, section 5, streamlined a little.)
For an L-∞ cocycle, then there is the following canonical commuting diagram of simplicial presheaves
which is given
Notice that the abstractly define Maurer-Cartan form is, for a general smooth infinity-group, generically modeled not by a globally defined ordinary differential form, but by a Cech cocycle with coefficients in a simplicial complex of differential forms. The following definition is usefully thought of as constructing the universal cover such that pulled back to this the abstractly defined Maurer-Cartan form does become equivalent to a globally defined flat -valued differential form. This in turn may be thought of as one of the defining properties of higher WZW terms: that their curvature is a globally defined and left invariant flat -valued differential form.
Write
for the homotopy pullback of the left vertical morphism in prop. along (the modulating morphism for) the Maurer-Cartan form of , i.e. for the object sitting in a homotopy Cartesian square of the form
For the special case that is an ordinary Lie group, then , by example , hence in this case the morphism being pulled back in def. is an equivalence, and so in this case nothing new happens, we get .
On the other extreme, when is the circle (p+1)-group, then def. reduces to the homotopy pullback that characterizes the Deligne complex and hence yields
This shows that def. is a certain non-abelian generalization of ordinary differential cohomology. We find further characterization of this below in corollary , see remark .
From example one reads off the conceptual meaning of def. : For a Lie group, then the de Rham coefficients are just globally defined differential forms, (by the discussion here), and in particular therefore the Maurer-Cartan form is a globally defined differential form. This is no longer the case for general smooth ∞-groups . In general, the Maurer-Cartan forms here is a cocycle in hypercohomology, given only locally by differential forms, that are glued nontrivially, in general, via gauge transformations and higher gauge transformations given by lower degree forms.
But the WZW terms that we are after are supposed to prequantizations of globally defined Maurer-Cartan forms. The homotopy pullback in def. is precisely the universal construction that enforces the existence of a globally defined Maurer-Cartan form for , namely .
Given an L-∞ cocycle , then via prop. , prop. and using the naturality of the Maurer-Cartan form, def. , we have a morphism of cospan diagrams of the form
By the homotopy fiber product characterization of the Deligne complex, prop. , this yields a morphism of the form
which modulates a p+1-connection/Deligne cocycle on the differentially extended smooth -group from def. .
This we call the WZW term obtained by universal Lie integration from .
Essentially this construction originates in (FSS 13).
The WZW term of def. is a prequantization of , hence a lift in
Above we discussed how a single L-∞ cocycle Lie integrates to a higher WZW term. More generally, one has a sequence of L-∞ cocycles, each defined on the extension that is classified by the previous one – a bouquet of cocycles. Here we discuss how in this case the higher WZW terms at each stage relate to each other. (The following statements are corollaries of FSS 13, section 5).
In each stage, for a cocycle and the extension that it classifies (its homotopy fiber), then the next cocycle is of the form
The homotopy fiber of is given by the ordinary pullback
where is defined by its Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra being the Weil algebra of , which is the free differential graded algebra on a generator in degree , and where the right vertical map takes that generator to 0 and takes its free image under the differential to the generator of .
This follows with the recognition principle for L-∞ homotopy fibers.
A homotopy fiber sequence of L-∞ algebras induces a homotopy pullback diagram of the associated objects of L-∞ algebra valued differential forms, def. , of the form
(hence an ordinary pullback of presheaves, since these are all simplicially constant).
The construction preserves pullbacks ( is an anti-equivalence onto its image, pullbacks of (pre-)-sheaves are computed objectwise, the hom-functor preserves pullbacks in the covariant argument).
Observe then (see the discussion at L-∞ algebra valued differential forms), that while
we have
We say that a pair of L-∞ cocycles is consecutive if the domain of the second is the extension (homotopy fiber) defined by the first
and if the truncated Lie integrations of these cocycles via prop. preserves the extension property in that also
The issue of the second clause in def. is to do with the truncation degrees: the universal untruncated Lie integration preserves homotopy fiber sequences, but if there are non-trivial cocycles on in between and , for , then these will remain as nontrivial homotopy groups in the higher-degree truncation (see Henriques 06, theorem 6.4) but they will be truncated away in and will hence spoil the preservation of the homotopy fibers through Lie integration.
Notice that extending along consecutive cocycles is like the extension stages in a Whitehead tower.
Given two consecutive L-∞ cocycles , def. , let
and
be the WZW terms obtained from the two cocycles via def. .
There is a homotopy pullback square in smooth homotopy types of the form
Consider the following pasting composite
where
the top left square is the evident homotopy;
the top right square expresses that preserves the basepoint;
the bottom right square is the naturality of the Maurer-Cartan form construction.
Under forming homotopy limits over the horizontal cospan diagrams here, this turns into
by def. . On the other hand, forming homotopy limits vertically this turns into
(on the left by corollary , on the right by the second clause in def. ).
The homotopy limit over that last cospan, in turn, is . This implies the claim by the fact that homotopy limits commute with each other.
Prop. says how consecutive pairs of -cocycles Lie integrate suitably to consecutive pairs of WZW terms.
In the above situation there is a homotopy fiber sequence of infinity-group objects of the form
where the bottom horizontal morphism is the higher WZW term that Lie integrates , followed by the canonical projection
which removes the top-degree differential form data from a higher connection.
Hence is an infinity-group extension of by the moduli stack of higher connections.
By prop. and the pasting law, the homotopy fiber of is equivalently the homotopy fiber of , which in turn is equivalently the homotopy fiber of , which is :
Corollary says that is a bundle of moduli stacks for differential cohomology over . This means that maps
(which are the fields of the higher WZW model with WZW term ) are pairs of plain maps together with a differential cocycle on , i.e. a -form connection on , which is twisted by in a certain way.
Below we discuss that this occurs for the (properly globalized) Green-Schwarz super p-brane sigma models of all the D-branes and of the M5-brane. For the D-branes and so there is a 1-form connection on their worldvolume, the Chan-Paton gauge field. For the M5-brane and so there is a 2-form connection on its worldvolume, the self-dual higher gauge field in 6d.
For each Dp-brane species in type IIA string theory there is a pair of consecutive cocycles (def. ) of the form
This is by the discussion below. Here
reflects the familiar D-brane coupling to the RR-fields , given an abelian Chan-Paton gauge field with field strength , see def. below.
The WZW term induced by is the globalization of the original term introduced by Green and Schwarz in the construction of the Green-Schwarz sigma-model for the superstring.
Now corollary says in this case that the Dp-brane sigma model has as target space the smooth super 2-group which is an infinity-group extension of super Minkowski spacetime by the moduli stack for complex line bundles with connection, sitting in a homotopy fiber sequence of the form
It follows that field configurations for the D-brane given by morphisms
are equivalently pairs, consisting of an ordinary sigma-model field
together with a twisted 1-form connection on , the twist depending on . (In fact here the twist vanishes in bosonic degrees, unless we introduce a nontrivial bosonic component of the B-field). This is just the right datum of the (abelian) Chan-Paton gauge field on the D-brane.
Above we considered consecutive cocycles (def. ) with coefficients in line Lie-n algebras . Here we discuss how these may descend to single cocycles with richer coefficients.
Below we find as examples of this general phenomenon
the descent of the separate D-brane cocycles to the RR-fields in twisted K-theory, rationally (here)
the descent of the M5-brane cocycle to a cocycle in degree-4 cohomology, rationally (here).
Given one stage of consecutive -cocycles, def. (e.g in the brane bouquet discussed below)
then may be thought of, in a precise sense, as being a -principal ∞-bundle over .
This and the following statements all are the general theorems of (Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12) specified to -algebras regarded as infinitesimal -stacks (aka “formal moduli problems”) according to dcct. Here we do not not have the space to dwell further on the details of this general theory of higher principal bundles, but the reader familiar with Lie groupoids gets an accurate impression by considering the analogous situation in that context (see at geometry of physics – principal bundles for detailed lecture notes that cover the following):
for a Lie group and its one-object delooping Lie groupoid, and for another Lie group (or just any smooth manifold), then a generalized morphism of Lie groupoids
(i.e. a morphism between the smooth stacks which they represent, or equivalently a bibundle of Lie groupoids) classifies a smooth -principal bundle over , and the total space of that bundle is equivalently the homotopy fiber of the original map.
This is explained in some detail at principal bundle – In a (2,1)-topos.
Back to the abalogous situation of -algebras instead of Lie groups, it is now natural to ask whether the second cocycle , defined on the total space (stack) of this bundle is equivariant under the ∞-action of . If does not itself already come from the base space, then it can at best be equivariant with respect to an -∞-action on .
A first observation now is that specifying such ∞-action is equivalent to specifying a second homotopy fiber sequence of the form as on the right of this completed diagram:
In the simple analogous situation of Lie groupoids this comes about as follows (see at geometry of physics – representations and associated bundles for detailed lecture notes on the following):
for a Lie group and a smooth action of on some smooth manifold , then there is the action groupoid . Its objects are the points of , but then it has morphisms of the form connecting any two objects that are taken to each other by the Lie group action. For example when is the point, then is just the one-object delooping Lie groupoid of the Lie group itself. This also shows that there is canonical map
which is given by sending all to the point, and sending each morphism to .
This projection is evidently an isofibration, meaning that if we have a morphism in and a lift of its source object to , then there is a compatible lift of the whole morphism. This is a technical condition which ensures that the ordinary fiber of this morphism is equivalently already it homotopy fiber. But the ordinary fiber of this morphisms, hence the stuff in that gets send to the (identity morphism on) the point, is clearly just itself again. Hence we conclude that the action of on induced a homotopy fiber sequence
With a little more work one may show that every homotopy fiber sequence of this form is induced this way by an action, up to equivalence. Hence actions of are equivalently bundles over . One way to understand this is to observe that the action groupoid is a model for the homotopy quotient of the action, and by the Borel construction this may equivalently be written as the -associated bundle to the -universal principal bundle:
Hence the statement is that the map that sends -actions the universal -associated bundle is an equivalence, not just in the context of Lie groups andLie groupoids but much more generally (in every “(infinity,1)-topos”).
Again back now to the analogous situation with -algebras instead of Lie groups, a second fact which we are to invoke then is that given , then the -equivariance of is equivalent to it descending down the homotopy fibers on both sides to an -homomorphism of the form
making this diagram commute in the homotopy category:
In our example of Lie group principal bundles this comes down to a classical statement:
one may explicitly check that a morphism of the form
is equivalently a section of the -fiber bundle which is associated via to the -principal bundle that is classified by the map on the left. If we pass this to the iterated homotopy fibers (the Cech nerve) of the vertical maps
then this induces a -valued function on the total space of the principal bundle with the property that this is -equivariant. It is a classical fact that such equivariant -valued functions on total spaces of principal bundles are equivalent to sections of the associated -fiber bundles. What we are claiming and using here is that this fact again holds in vastly more generality, namely in an (infinity,1)-topos.
In conclusion:
The resulting triangle diagram
regarded as a morphism
in the slice over exhibits as a cocycle in (rational) -twisted cohomology with respect to the local coefficient bundle .
(Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12)
Notice that a priori this is (twisted) nonabelian cohomology, though it may happen to land in abelian-, i.e. stable-cohomology.
Such descent is what one needs to find for the brane bouquet above, in order to interpret each of its branches as encoding -brane model on spacetime itself. This is a purely algebraic problem which has been solved (Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 15). We discuss the solution in a moment.
Open problem:
Understand M-theory from first principles, not via perturbative string theory.
Theorem reviewed here:
Much of the known/expected structure of M-theory
follows from analysis of the superpoint
in super Lie n-algebra homotopy theory.
Based on Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 13, 16a, 16b.
If history is a good guide, then we should expect that anything as profound and far-reaching as a fully satisfactory formulation of M-theory is surely going to lead to new and novel mathematics. Regrettably, it is a problem the community seems to have put aside - temporarily. But, ultimately, Physical Mathematics must return to this grand issue. (G. Moore, p. 45 of “Physical Mathematics and the Future”, talk at Strings 2014)
Everything we say below follows
by developing this elementary phenomenon (highlighted in Schreiber 15):
Consider the superpoint
regarded as an abelian super Lie algebra.
Its maximal central extension is
the super-worldline of the superparticle:
whose even part is spanned by one generator
whose odd part is spanned by one generator
the only non-trivial bracket is
Then consider the superpoint
Its maximal central extension is
the , super Minkowski spacetime
whose even part is , spanned by generators
whose odd part is , regarded as
the Majorana spinor representation
of
the only non-trivial bracket is the spinor bilinear pairing
where is the charge conjugation matrix.
Recall that
-dimensional central extensions of super Lie algebras
are classified by 2-cocycles.
These are super-skew symmetric bilinear maps
satisfying a cocycle condition.
The extension that this classifies
has underlying super vector space
the direct sum
an the new super Lie bracket is given
on pairs
by
The condition that the new bracket satisfies the super Jacobi identity
is equivalent to the cocycle condition on .
Now
in the case that ,
then the cocycle condition is trivial
and a 2-cocycle is just a symmetric bilinear form
on the fermionic dimensions.
So
in the case
there is a unique such, up to scale, namely
But
in the case
there is a 3-dimensional space of 2-cocycles, namely
If this is identified with the three coordinates
of 3d Minkowski spacetime
then the pairing is the claimed one
(see at supersymmetry – in dimensions 3,4,6,10).
This phenomenon continues:
The diagram of super Lie algebras shown on the right
is obtained by consecutively forming
maximal central extensions
invariant with respect to
the maximal subgroup of automorphisms
for which there are invariant cocycles at all.
Here
is the , super-translation supersymmetry algebra.
And these subgroups are
the spin group covers
of the Lorentz groups .
Side remark: That every super Minkowski spacetime is some central extension of some superpoint is elementary. This was highlighted in (Chryssomalakos-Azcárraga-Izquierdo-Bueno 99, 2.1). But most central extensions of superpoints are nothing like super-Minkowksi spacetimes. The point of the above proposition is to restrict attention to iterated invariant central extensions and to find that these single out the super-Minkoski spacetimes.
Conclusion:
Just from studying iterated invariant central extensions
starting with the superpoint,
we (re-)discover
May we extend further?
There are no further invariant 2-cocycles on
But there is an invariant 3-cocycle.
There are no further invariant 2-cocycles on
But there is an invariant 4-cocycle.
So:
What are higher super Lie algebra cocycles?
And what kind of extensions do they classify?
Quick answer:
Higher cocycles are closed elements in a Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra.
They classify super Lie-∞ algebra extensions.
This we explain now.
For a super Lie algebra
then its Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra
is the super-Grassmann algebra on the dual super vector space
equipped with a differential
that on generators is the linear dual of the super Lie bracket
and which is extended to
by the graded Leibniz rule (i.e. as a graded derivation).
Here all elements are -bigraded,
the first being the cohomological grading in ,
the second being the super-grading (even/odd).
The sign rule is
A -cocycle on
is an element of degree in
which is closed. It is non-trivial if it is not -exact.
We may think of equivalently
as the dg-algebra of left-invariant super differential forms
on the corresponding simply connected super Lie group .
For
and a Majorana spin representation of
then the super-translation supersymmetry super Lie algebra
has Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra generated by
in bi-degree ;
in bi-degree .
with differential
where
is the standard spinor bilinear pairing
in the spin representation .
If we think of super Minkowski spacetime
as the supermanifold with
even coordinates ;
odd coordinates
then these generators correspond to these super differential forms:
the super-vielbein.
Notice that alone
fails to be a left invariant differential form,
in that it is not annihilated by the supersymmetry
vector fields
Therefore the all-important correction term above.
The 2-cocycle that classifies the extension
is
Regarded as a 2-form on ,
this is the curvature of the WZW-term
in the Green-Schwarz sigma-model for the D0-brane.
See below.
(Achúcarro-Evans-Townsend-Wiltshire 87, Brandt 12-13)
The maximal invariant 3-cocycle on 10d super Minkowski spacetime is
This is the WZW term for the Green-Schwarz superstring (Green-Schwarz 84).
The maximal invariant 4-cocycle on super Minkowski spacetime is
This is the higher WZW term for the supermembrane (Bergshoeff-Sezgin-Townsend 87).
This classification is also known as
the old brane scan.
Here “higher WZW term” means the following:
Regard
as a left invariant differential form
Choose any differential form potential
i.e. such that
(This will not be left-invariant.)
Then the Green-Schwarz action functional for the superstring
is the function on the space of sigma-model fields
(morphisms of supermanifolds)
given by
The first term is the Nambu-Goto action
the second is a WZW term.
Originally Green-Schwarz 84 introduced
to ensure an additional fermionic symmetry: “kappa-symmetry”.
Notice that looks somewhat complicated
and is not unique.
That it is simply a WZW-term
for the supersymmetry supergroup
was observed in Henneaux-Mezincescu 85.
Similarly,
choose any differential form potential such that
(This will not be left-invariant.)
Then the Green-Schwarz type action functional
for the supermembrane
is the function on sigma-model fields
given by
On the right this is
the higher WZW term.
Now we discuss that higher cocycles classify higher extensions:
First observe that
Homomorphisms of super Lie algebras
are in natural bijection with the homomorphisms of dg-algebras
between their Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra, going the opposite direction:
This means that we may identify super Lie algebras with their CE-algebras.
In the terminology of category theory: the functor
given by
is fully faithful.
Therefore is natural to make the following definition.
A super Lie-infinity algebra of finite type is
a -graded super vector space
degreewise of finite dimension
for all a multilinear map
of degree
such that
the graded derivation on the super-Grassmann algebra given by
squares to zero:
and hence defines a dg-algebra
A homomorphism of super -algebras is dually a homomorphism of their CE-algebras.
If is concentrated
in degrees to
we call it a super Lie n-algebra.
Side remark:
We may drop the assumption of degreewise finiteness
by regarding as a free graded co-commutative coalgebra
and as a differential
making a differential graded coalgebra.
-algebras in the sense of def. were introduced in Lada-Stasheff 92.
That they are fully characterized
by their Chevalley-Eilenberg dg-(co-)algebras
is due to Lada-Markl 94.
See Sati-Schreiber-Stasheff 08, around def. 13.
But in fact the CE-algebras of super -algebras of finite type
were implicitly introduced
as tools for the higher super Cartan geometry of supergravity
already in D’Auria-Fré 82 (see D'Auria-Fré formulation of supergravity)
where they were called FDAs.
higher Lie theory | supergravity |
---|---|
super Lie n-algebra | “FDA” |
However,
what has not been used in the “FDA” literature
is that -algebras are objects in homotopy theory:
There exists a model category such that
its fibrant objects are the (super-)L-∞ algebras
with the above homomorphisms between them;
and
the weak equivalences between (super-)-algebras are the quasi-isomorphisms;
fibrations between (super-)-algebras are the surjections
on the underlying chain complex (using the unary part of the differential).
For more see at model structure for L-infinity algebras.
Concretely,
this implies in particular that
every homomorphisms of super L-∞ algebras
is the composite of a quasi-isomorphism followed by a surjection
That surjective homomorphism
is called a fibrant replacement of .
Given homomorphisms of super L-∞ algebras
then its homotopy fiber
is the kernel of any fibrant replacement
Standard facts in homotopy theory assert
that is well-defined
up to quasi-isomorphism.
See at Introduction to homotopy theory – Homotopy fibers.
(Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 13, prop. 3.5)
Write
for the line Lie (p+1)-algebra, given by
A -cocycle on an -algebra is equivalently a homomorphim
The homotopy fiber of this map
is given by adjoining to a single generator
forced to be a potential for :
Conclusion.
The higher central extensions
classified by higher cocycles
are their homotopy fibers.
This way we may finally continue
the progression of invariant central extensions
to higher central extensions:
Name the homotopy fibers of the cocycles
which are the higher WZW terms
of the superstring and the supermembrane
as follows
The super Lie 2-algebra is given by
This is a super-version of the string Lie 2-algebra (Baez-Crans-Schreiber-Stevenson 05
which controls Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation (Sati-Schreiber-Stasheff 12)
and the topology of the supergravity C-field (Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 12a, 12b).
The membrane super Lie 3-algebra is given by
This dg-algebra was first considered in D’Auria-Fré 82 (3.15)
as a tool for constructing 11-dimensional supergravity.
For exposition from the point of view of Lie 3-algebras see also Baez-Huerta 10.
Hence the progression
of maximal invariant extensions of the superpoint
continues as a diagram
of super L-∞ algebras like so:
(While every extension displayed is a maximal invariant higher central extension, not all invariant higher central extensions are displayed. For instance there are string and membrane GS-WZW-terms / cocycles also on the lower dimensional super-Minkowski spacetimes (“non-critical”), e.g. the super 1-brane in 3d and the super 2-brane in 4d.)
The “old brane scan” ran into a conundrum:
Given that superstrings and supermembranes
are nicely classified by super Lie algebra cohomology
why do the other super p-branes not show up similarly?
Where are the D-branes and the M5-brane?
But now we see that we should look for
further higher cocycles
not on super Lie algebras
but on super L-∞ algebras.
(Chryssomalakos-Azcárraga-Izquierdo-Bueno 99, Sakaguchi 99, Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 13)
The higher WZW terms for the D-branes
are invariant super -cocycles
on the higher extended super Minkowski spacetimes from above
Similarly,
the higher WZW term for the M5-brane
is an invariant super 7-cocycle
of the form
By the above, these cocycles classify
further higher super -algebra extensions
Notice that all these are higher cocycles
except for that of the D0-brane, which is just a 2-cocycle.
The ordinary central extension that this classifies
is just that which grows the 11th M-theory dimension by the above example .
This may be thought of
as a super -theoretic incarnation
of D0-brane condensation
In conclusion:
by forming
iterated (maximal) invariant higher central super -extensions
of the superpoint,
we obtain the following “brane bouquet”
Each object in this diagram of super L-∞ algebras
is a super spacetime or super p-brane of string theory / M-theory.
Moreover, this diagram knows the brane intersection laws:
there is a morphism
precisely if the given species of -branes may end on the given species of -branes
(more discussion of this is in Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 13, section 3).
Perhaps we need to understand the nature of time itself better. One natural way to approach that question would be to understand in what sense time itself is an emergent concept, and one natural way to make sense of such a notion is to understand how pseudo-Riemannian geometry can emerge from more fundamental and abstract notions such as categories of branes. (G. Moore, p.41 of “Physical Mathematics and the Future”, talk at Strings 2014)
But how are we to think of the extended super Minkowski spacetimes geometrically?
This is clarified by the following result:
(Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 13, section 5)
Write for the super 2-group
that Lie integrates the super Lie 2-algebra
subject to the condition that it carries a globally defined Maurer-Cartan form.
Then for a worldvolume smooth manifold
there is a natural equivalence
between “higher Sigma-model fields”
and pairs, consisting of
an ordinary sigma-model field
and a gauge field on the worldvolume of the D-brane
twisted by the Kalb-Ramond field.
This is the Chan-Paton gauge field on the D-brane.
Similarly:
Write for the super 3-group
that Lie integrates the super Lie 3-algebra
subject to the condition that it carries a globally defined Maurer-Cartan form.
Then for a worldvolume smooth manifold
there is a natural equivalence
between “higher Sigma-model fields”
and pairs, consisting of
an ordinary sigma-model field
and a higher gauge field on the worldvolume of the M5-brane
and twisted by the supergravity C-field.
(See also at Structure Theory for Higher WZW Terms, session II).
In conclusion this shows that
given a cocycle for some super -brane species
inducing an extended super Minkowski spacetime via its homotopy fiber
and then given a consecutive cocycle for a -brane species on that homotopy fiber
then -branes may end on -branes
and the -branes propagating in the extended spacetime
see a higher gauge field on their worldvolume
of the kind sourced by boundaries of -branes.
Hence the extended super Minkowski spacetime
is like the original super spacetime
but filled with a condensate of -branes
whose boundaries source a higher gauge field.
While this is good,
it means that at each stage of the brane bouquet
we are describing -brane dynamics
on a fixed -brane background field.
But more generally
we would like to describe the joint dynamics
of all brane species at once.
This we turn to now.
We now discuss that
There is homotopy descent of -brane WZW terms
from extended super Minkowski spacetime
down to ordinary super Minkowski spacetime
which yields cocycles in twisted cohomology
for the RR-field and the M-flux fields.
(Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 15, 16a).
In order to explain this we now first recall
the general nature of twisted cohomology
and its role in string theory.
It is often stated that a
Chan-Paton gauge field on coincident D-branes
is an SU(n)-vector bundle ,
hence a cocycle in nonabelian cohomology in degree 1.
But this is not quite true.
In general there are D-branes and anti-D-branes coinciding,
carrying Chan-Paton gauge fields
(of rank ) and (of rank ), respectively,
yielding a pair of vector bundles
Such pairs are also called virtual vector bundles.
But D-branes annihilate with anti-D-branes (Sen 98)
when they have exact opposite D-brane charge,
which here means that they carry the same Chan-Paton vector bundle.
In other words, pairs as above of the special form
are equivalent to pairs of the form .
Hene the net Chan-Paton charge of coincident branes and anti-branes
is the equivalence class of
under the equivalence relation which is generated by the relation
for all complex vector bundles (Witten 98, Witten 00).
The additive abelian group of such equivalence classes of virtual vector bundles
is called the topological K-theory.
It follows that also the RR-fields are in K-theory (Moore-Witten 00).
Topological K-theory is similar to ordinary cohomology
but is a generalized (Eilenberg-Steenrod) cohomology theory.
A generalized cohomology theory is represented by a spectrum
(in the sense of stable homotopy theory):
A spectrum is sequence of pointed topological spaces
equipped with weak homotopy equivalences
from one to the loop space of the next.
Given this, then the -cohomology of any topological space is
For topological K-theory one writes
with
with the stable unitary group,
and the classifying space for complex vector bundles.
But above we saw
that the Chan-Paton gauge field on a D-brane
is actually a twisted vector bundle
with twist given by the Kalb-Ramond field
sourced by a string condensate.
(Freed-Witten anomaly cancellation)
Such twisted cohomology generalized cohomology is given by
a classifying space of twists
a spectrum object in the slice category , namely a sequence of spaces equipped with maps
and weak equivalences
Extremal examples:
an ordinary spectrum
is a parameterized spectrum over the point;
an ordinary space
is identified with the zero-spectrum parameterized over :
Then
a twist for -cohomology of is a map
the -twisted -cohomology of is
There is a homotopy fiber sequence (in parameterized spectra)
and this equivalently exhibits as the homotopy quotient of an ordinary spectrum by a -infinity-action.
(Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12, section 4.1)
Assume that is simply connected, i.e. of the form .
We now translate this situation to super L-∞ algebras
via the central theorem of rational homotopy theory.
On every loop space ,
the operation of concatenation of loops
gives the structure of a group up to coherent higher homotopy
called a “grouplike A-∞ space”
or ∞-group for short.
Conversely, for an ∞-group
there is an essentially unique connected space
with .
Every double loop space
becomes a “first order abelian” ∞-group
by exchanging loop directons
called a braided ∞-group,
For a braided ∞-group then
is itself an ∞-group
and so there exists an essentially unique simply connected space
with
And so forth:
Every triple loop space
becomes a “second order abelian” ∞-group
by exchanging loop directons
called a sylleptic ∞-group.
etc.
In a spectrum ,
the maps
exhbit as an infinite loop space
hence as a fully abelian ∞-group.
It turns out that by a theoretic version of Lie theory,
there is an L-∞ algebra associated with any ∞-group
or
etc.
Its Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra
is called a Sullivan model for .
For example the -algebra associated with an Eilenberg-MacLane space
is the line Lie-n algebra from above:
The main theorem of rational homotopy theory (Quillen 69, Sullivan 77)
says that the L-∞ algebra equivalently reflects the rationalization of
(in fact the real-ification, since we are considering -algebras over the real numbers).
This means that weak equivalence between -algebras correspond to maps between spaces
that induce isomorphism on real-ified homotopy groups
For concise review in the language that we use here see Buijs-Félix-Murillo 12, section 2.
We apply this rational homotopy theory functor
to find the -algebraic version of parameterized spectra
hence of twisted cohomology:
Here is a chain complex
underlying the real-ification of the spectrum
(stable Dold-Kan correspondence).
So for some super Minkowski spacetime, a cocycle in -twisted -cohomology is a diagram of the form
Now given one stage in the brane bouquet
we want to descent to .
By the general theory of principal ∞-bundles (Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12):
has a -∞-action
equipping with an -∞-action
is equivalent to finding a homotopy fiber sequence as on the right here:
is -equivariant precisely if it descends to a morphism
if so, then resulting triangle diagram
exhibits as a cocycle in (rational) -twisted cohomology
with respect to the local coefficient bundle .
We now work out this general prescription
for the cocycles in the brane bouquet.
By the brane bouquet above
the type IIA D-branes
are given by super cocycles of the form
for .
Notice that
has one generator in each even degree, the universal Chern classes.
Hence the -algebra
is given by
This allows to unify the D-brane cocycles
into a single morphism of super -algebras of the form
By the above prescription, descending is equivalent
to finding a commuting diagram in the homotopy category of super -algebras
of the form
This turns out to exist as follows (Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 16a, section 5):
Define the -algebra
by
Moreover write
for the super -algebra whose Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra is
(Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 16a, theorem 4.16)
The super -algebra
is a resolution of type IIA super-Minkowski spacetime.
in that there is a weak equivalence
This fits into a commuting diagram of the form
In conclusion
the type IIA F1-brane and D-brane cocycles with -coefficients
do descent to super-Minkowski spacetime
as one single cocycle with coefficients
in rationalized twisted K-theory.
We now say this is more detail:
Consider the type IIA super-Minkowski spacetime , regarded as its super translation Lie algebra, as discussed above. All of the following has an analogue also for the type IIB super-Minkowski spacetime
The 3-cocycle in the old brane scan, as above, which gives the WZW term, of the Green-Schwarz sigma model for the type IIA string (the “F1-brane” in type IIA) is
Write
for the super Lie 2-algebra extension that the 3-cocycle induces according to def. . By prop. this is given by adjoining an element of degree to whose CE-differential is the 3-cocycle:
Here the homotopy fiber is the -principal ∞-bundle classified by the 3-cocycle for the F1-brane (the type IIA superstring), just like the string Lie 2-algebra-extension of example , but now for the super-part of the symmetry group. Therefore this has sometimes been called the “superstring super Lie 2-algebra”.
Consider then the following inhomogeneous linear combination of elements in the CE-algebra of this super Lie 2-algebra.
Let be given by
For let be given by
where
and where the angular brackets denotes picking the homogeneous summand of degree .
The elements in def. are non-trivial cocycles.
They are the WZW-terms for the Green-Schwarz sigma-model of the D-branes in type IIA super Minkowski spacetime.
This is due to (Chrysso?malakos-Azcárraga-Izquierdo-Bueno 99, section 6.1). Here we follow the conventions and presentation in (FSS 16a, section 4).
In conclusion, the super Minkowski spacetime – locally modeling super spacetimes in 10d type IIA supergravity – carries super -extensions of the following form (FSS 13):
By the above (Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12), asking whether the cocycles for the D-branes are -equivariant and descend as twisted cocycles down to super-Minkowski spacetime is equivalent to asking whether there is a homotopy fiber sequence and a homotopy-commuting diagram of the form
To that end, consider the following:
Write for the L-∞ algebra whose Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra has generators and in the indicated degrees, with non-trivial differential given by :
For a smooth manifold, then an L-∞ algebra valued differential forms, def. , on with values in the -algebra of def.
is equivalently a collection of -form together with a closed 3-form such that
For then this is equivalently a cocycle in the -twisted de Rham complex of .
The bottom morphism is clearly degreewise surjective, hence is a fibration between fibrant objects in , according to prop. . Therefore according to this proposition its homotopy fiber is equivalent to its ordinary fiber. Dually this is the cofiber in of the map that includes the generator , and that is clearly given by sending to zero.
Write for the super -algebra whose Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra is that of with generators and added, subject to .
The super Lie 2-algebra of def. is a resolution of the type IIA super translation Lie algebra, in that the canonical comparison morphism is a weak equivalence according to prop. :
According to prop. a morphism in is a weak equivalence if it induces a quasi-isomorphism on the co-unary part of the Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra. This is manifestly the case by def. of .
Hence we may use def. equivalently in place of . Being a bigger equivalent model of type IIA supertranslations, it potentially serves as domain for more morphisms (it sees more of the derived hom space) in the homotopy theory for super L-infinity algebras in the following.
Indeed, the above descent problem has a solution as follows:
The F1/Dp-brane cocycles of type IIA fit into a commuting diagram in of the following form
Here all generators of the same name are undestood to be sent to themselves.
The key point is that the middle map is indeed a homomorphism. To see this, notice that by def. the resolved differential may be written as
Applied to def. of the Dp-brane cocycles
this yields
This equation is exactly what gives a homomrphism into the -algebra of def. .
This says that the type IIA F1-brane and D-brane cocycles with -coefficients do descent to super-Minkowski spacetime as one single cocycle with coefficients in the homotopy quotient .
But these rational coefficients are precisely the rational image of twisted topological K-theory.
Accordingly, the Lie integration of this rational situation to twisted K-theory, and its globalization over a 10-dimensional IIA super spacetime , yields a diagram of parameterized spectra in smooth infinity-stacks of the form
According to (Sati-Schreiber-Stasheff 09, Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12) here the morphism denoted represents the Kalb-Ramond B-field under which the F1-brane is charged and the morphism denoted represents the RR-field under which the D-branes are charged.
This is how one may re-discover the familiar cohomological nature of the F1/Dp-brane charges in type II string theory from an analysis of the super -cohomology embodied in the brane bouquet-refinement of the old brane scan.
The part of the brane bouquet giving the M-branes is
In order to descend this, consider the -algebra corresponding to the 4-sphere
By standard results on rational n-spheres, this is given by
Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 15, section 3
There is a homotopy fiber sequence of -algebras as on the right
which is the image under of the quaternionic Hopf fibration.
This makes a commuting diagram
in the homotopy category of super -algebas
of the form
In conclusion
this says that, rationally,
M2-brane charge is in degree-4 ordinary cohomology
and it twists M5-brane charge
which is, rationally, in unstable degree-4 cohomotopy.
This confirms a conjecture due to
(Sati 10, section 6.3, Sati 13, section 2.5).
based on the observation that
the equations of motion of 11-dimensional supergravity
for the supergravity C-field field strength say that
with the Hodge dual
and this is just the algebraic relation for the Sullivan model of the rational 4-sphere.
Notice that, unstably, the 4-sphere
is just the space whose non-torsion homotopy groups
hence those that are visible in rational homotopy theory
are in degrees 2+2 and 5+2:
k | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
But the correct non-rational lift of the -coefficients
will also have to be such that it somehow gives rise to twisted K-theory
under (double) dimensional reduction. This is still an open problem.
For further comments see the talk
Equivariant cohomology of M2/M5-branes
Now we say this in more detail:
We focus now on the cocycle in the brane bouquet that gives the WZW term of the Green-Schwarz sigma model for the M5-brane, defined on the extended super Minkowski spacetime induced from the cocycle for the M2-brane. Then we show how it descends down to 11-dimensional super-Minkowski spacetime itself, unifying with the M2-cocycle to one single cocycle, but now with coefficient in the rational 4-sphere.
For , write for the L-∞ algebra given by the Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra
Regarded as a Sullivan model in rational homotopy theory, then the dg-algebra of def. is a minimal model for the rationalization of the -sphere.
By the recognition theorem for L-∞ extensions we get:
For , there is a homotopy fiber sequence in the homotopy theory of L-∞ algebras of the form
where on formal dual Chevalley-Eilenberg algebras in terms of our defining generating elements the horizontal map is given by and the vertical map by and .
By the discussion at ∞-action this exhibits a -action on , for which is the homotopy quotient, whence the notation.
For and regarded as a statement in rational homotopy theory via remark , then the extension in prop. is a Sullivan minimal model for the rationalized Hopf fibration
Prop. is originally due to (D’Auria-Fré 82, p.18), where it is considered as an ingredient for constructing the action functional of 11-dimensional supergravity in the D'Auria-Fré formulation of supergravity. The statement has been rediscovered in (BLNPST 97, (9)), finding its interpretation as giving the WZW term of the Green-Schwarz sigma model for the M5-brane.
Write for the super L-∞ algebra which is the homotopy fiber of in prop. .
and specifically for the representive of this homotopy fiber which, by the recognition theorem for L-∞ extensions, is given by having the Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra
In terms of def. , the second item in prop. reads as follows:
There is a super -cocycle of the form
But since is a -principal ∞-bundle, it is natural to ask whether is -equivariant with respect to some natural -∞-action on . Such a natural action is given by prop. . To exhibit in components the equivariance of the 7-cocycle in corollary with respect to this action we need a resolution of super Minkowski spacetime:
Write for the super L-∞ algebra whose Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra is obtained from that of super Minkowski spacetime by
The canonical morphism
given dually by , , is an equivalence of -algebras. It factors the morphism from def. through a morphism which on formal dual CE-elements is given by , and by being the identity on all other generators.
There is a diagram of L-∞ algebras of the form
That the diagram exists and commutes at the level of the underlying graded algebras of the formal dual CE-algebras is immediate in terms of the defining generators: each generator is mapped to the generator of the same name, if present, in the codomain, or to zero otherwise, except for which is sent to and , which is sent to , as indicated.
It remains to check that the middle horizontal map respects the CE-differentials: by prop. we have
and by def. this says indeed that respects the CE-differentials.
The form of the equivariant cocycle in prop. is that of the curvature of the WZW term of the sigma-model describing the M5-brane as considered in (BLNPST 97, (6),(8)).
In view of remark , prop. says that the CE-elements and of prop. define a cocycle with values in the rational 4-sphere. In the discussions in geometry of physics – WZW terms and geometry of physics – BPS charges we see that under Lie integration and globalization in higher Cartan geometry, these elements encode the supergravity C-field and its magnetic dual. That these fields should take values the 4-sphere was first suggested in (Sati 13, section 2.5). See (Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 15) for more.
Now that we have found
the descended -cocycles
for all super -branes
in twisted cohomology, rationally,
we may analyze their behaviour under double dimensional reduction
and discover the super -algebraic incarnation
of various dualities in string theory.
For any super L-∞ algebra of finite type, its cyclification
is defined by having Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra of the form
where
is a copy of with cohomological degrees shifted down by one, and where is a new generator in degree 2.
The differential is given for by
where on the right we are extendng as a graded derivation.
Define
in the same way, but with .
For every there is a homotopy fiber sequence
which hence exhibits as the homotopy quotient of by an -action.
(Vigué-Sullivan 76, Vigué-Burghelea 85)
If
is the -algebra associated by rational homotopy theory to a simply connected topological space , then
corresponds to the free loop space of and
corresponds to the homotopy quotient of the free loop space by the circle group action which rotates the loops.
The cochain cohomology of the Chevalley-Eilenberg algebra
computes the cyclic cohomology of with coefficients in .
(Whence “cyclification”.)
Moreover the homotopy fiber sequence of the cyclification corresponds to that of the free loop space:
The following gives an -theoretic formalization
of “double dimensional reduction”
by which both the spacetime dimension is reduced
while at the same time the brane dimension
reduces (if wrapping the reduced dimension).
(Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 16b, prop. 3.5)
For
a central extension of super Lie-∞ algebras, then the operation
of sending a super -homomorphsm of the form
to the composite
gives a natural bijection
between super -homomorphisms out of the exteded super -algebra
and homomorphism out of the base into the cyclification of the original coefficients
with the latter constrained so that
the canonical 2-cocycle on the cyclification is taken to the 2-cocycle classifying the given extension.
It is straightforward, if somewhat tedious, to check this explicitly.
The general theory of adjoint functors provides insight as to the geometric nature of the super -algebraic formalization of dimensional reduction from prop. . Namely given any pair of adjoint functors , then there is a canonical natural morphism (called the unit of the adjunction) such that the natural bijection between hom-sets
is given by sending any morphism of the form to the composite
Specified to the situation in Prop. , this means that the double dimensional reduction of a super -homomorphism
on a central -extension of some super -algebra is the following composite:
In terms of the geometric interpretation via rational homotopy theory from prop. the morphism here has the following interpretation:
Let be a principal circle bundle. Then there is a map
which sends each point of to the loop that winds around the circle fiber over that point, at unit speed. As a map to the free loop space this would not be well defined unless the circle bundle were trivial, because by definition of principal circle bundles its fibers are identified with the typical fiber (the circle) only up to rigid rotation of that circle. But this is precisely the relation that is divided out by passing to the cyclified space , which makes the above well defined.
Hence given any map of spaces we may pass to the induced map on loops in modulo rigid rotation, and then precompose with the above fiber-assigning map
Under the Quillen-Sullivan functor from spaces to their associated -algebras in rational homotopy theory, this is the -algebraic construction above.
And this shows just how this formalizes the intuitive picture of dimensional reduction. For let be a manifold of dimension and let be the worldvolume of some -brane in . Thinking of as classifying a background field for -branes on (for instance for , the classifying space for ordinary cohomology) then the dimensionally reduced coupling term is given by the composite
To see what this does, consider what happens locally over some chart on which the circle extension is topologically trivial. Then by the adjunction this is equivalently the composite
But this is nothing than the value of the background field not on the -brane worldvolume , but on the worldvolume of a -brane, which “wraps” the circle fiber in . This is the physical picture of double dimensional reduction.
For entertainment of the homotopy theory cognoscenti, I mention that this formalization of double dimensional reduction from prop. is but a special case of the following very general fact in (∞,1)-topos theory.
Let be an ∞-group in an (∞,1)-topos then there is a pair of adjoint ∞-functors of the form
where denotes the internal hom in , denotes the homotopy quotient by the conjugation ∞-action for equipped with its canonical ∞-action by left multiplication and the argument regarded as equipped with its trivial --action.
First observe that the conjugation action on is the internal hom in the (∞,1)-category of -∞-actions . Under the equivalence of (∞,1)-categories
(from Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12) then with its canonical ∞-action is and with the trivial action is .
Hence
Actually, this is the very definition of what is to mean in the first place, abstractly.
But now since the slice (∞,1)-topos is itself cartesian closed, via
it is immediate that there is the following sequence of natural equivalences
Here denotes the terminal morphism and denotes the base change along it.
We discuss now how
by repeatedly applying
the super -algebraic dimensional reduction/oxidation isomorphism of prop.
to the descended cocycles from the brane bouquet
yields super -algebraic equivalences
that reflect the pertinent dualities in string theory
between M-theory and type IIA string theory;
between type IIA string theory and type IIB string theory (T-duality)
between type IIB string theory and F-theory.
(Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber 16a, section 3)
The cyclification of the M-brane coefficient
is the truncated IIA F1/D-brane coefficient
with an extra twist for the NS5-brane:
Under this identification
the -theoretic dimensional reduction according to prop.
of the unified M-brane cocycle of prop.
(…)
(…)
(…)
(…)
We had seen in session I how infinitesimal symmetries of higher WZW terms over smooth manifolds form extensions of symmetry algebras by de Rham cohomology groups; and in session II we had seen that in general higher WZW terms are defined consecutively on higher group stack extensions defined by previous WZW terms. Here we consider now the full finite symmetries of such consecutive higher WZW terms, not just infinitesimally at the -algebra level.
To make progress here, it is useful not to work in componentwise presentations such as given by simplicial presheaves, but to consider the situation more general abstractly. The general abstract context of higher stacks is captured by the statement that the collection of all of them (over a given site, for us here a site of smooth manifolds or supermanifolds or similar) forms what is called an (∞,1)-topos. In this last session we will need to speak more internally to such higher toposes.
We write generically for an (∞,1)-topos. The case of relevance for the examples discussed here is the -topos of higher smooth stacks, higher superstacks, and we will now also need higher formal stacks containing infinitesimals. super formal smooth higher stacks.
Given a Deligne cocycle on some higher smooth stack , we want to study its symmetries, namely the automorphisms (diffeomorphisms) that preserve . Since we are in a higher homotopy theoretic context, “preserving” here means to choose an equivalence , and these choices of equivalences in turn have higher order equivalences between themselves, and so on.
Given an (∞,1)-topos , then a group object in (an ∞-group) is an object equipped with the structure of an A-∞ algebra (i.e. a product operation which satisfies associativity up to higher coherent homotopy), such that the 0-truncation is an ordinary group object.
Given any object with a base point (a pointed object), then the loop space object , defined to be the homotopy fiber product of the point over with itself, canonically has the structure of an ∞-group, def. , where the product operation is given by concatenation of loops.
Compared to the somewhat intricate structure of an A-∞ algebra (grouplike or not), the concept of a pointed object is drastically more simple and more fundamental. It becomes simpler still if we assume that up to equivalence only has a single map from the point, then we call a connected object.
The looping operation of example constitutes an equivalence of (∞,1)-categories
between pointed connected objects in and ∞-group objects, def. , in .
The inverse equivalence we call the delooping operation.
For ∞Grpd this is the May recognition theorem. For general this is (Lurie, "Higher Algebra", theorem 5.1.3.6).
Various concepts in group theory and representation theory become elementary under passing along in this equivalence. The following is particularly useful:
Given an ∞-group , then there is an equivalence of (∞,1)-categories
between ∞-actions of on objects and objects in the slice (∞,1)-topos over , given by identifying a -∞-action on some with the homotopy fiber sequence
where is the homotopy quotient (the homotopy coinvariants) of the action.
In traditional plain homotopy theory this is due to (Dror-Dwyer-Kan 80). For general (∞,1)-toposes this is discussed in (Nikolaus-Schreiber-Stevenson 12).
One immediate consequence of this equivalence is that it implies that is itself an (∞,1)-topos and in particular has internal homs:
For and two -actions, then there is the conjugation action
where
is the internal hom of the two actions formed in the slice over .
Another consequence is that the object classifier in an (∞,1)-topos/universe yields the canonical automorphism actions:
For any object, then its delooped automorphism ∞-group is the 1-image of its name in the universe, and the canonical ∞-action of that on is exhibited the consecutive homotopy pullback
Combining examples and , we get for any a canonical --action on by precomposition. We are interested in studying this for the case that is a coefficient for differential cohomology, such as .
Given a -∞-action on some , and given a global element of
then the homotopy stabilizer group of the -action at is the loop space object
of the homotopy quotient of the action at the image of under the quotient projection.
Equivalently, def. , gives the loop space object of the 1-image of the morphism
As such the delooping of the stabilizer -group sits in a 1-epimorphism/1-monomorphism factorization which combines with the homotopy fiber sequence of prop. to a diagram of the form
In particular there is hence a canonical homomorphism of -groups
However, in contrast to the classical situation, this morphism is not in general a monomorphism anymore, hence the stabilizer is not a sub-group of in general.
We consider now homtopy stabilizer groups of higher WZW terms under precomposition action, example , of automorphisms of their domain. Above we considered these terms with coefficients in . If we wite then this reads . We consier the situation now in this generality (where could be any braided ∞-group equipped with a Hodge filtration).
There is one technicality to be aware of:
This is the proper moduli stack of -principal ∞-connections on in that a family is a vertical -principal -connection on .
For Smooth∞Grpd or =FormalSmooth∞Grpd, for the circle (p+1)-group with its standard Hodge filtration, then for any smooth manifold or formal smooth manifold, is presented via the Dold-Kan correspondence by the sheaf of vertical Deligne complexes on over .
For then the loop space object of the moduli stack of -principal -connections on is the moduli stack of flat ∞-connections with gauge group
The canonical precomposition ∞-action, example of the automorphism ∞-group on passes along to an ∞-action on .
Given a -principal ∞-connection there are the following concepts in higher geometric prequantum theory.
The quantomorphism ∞-group is the stabilizer ∞-group of , def. , under the -action of ;
The Hamiltonian symplectomorphism ∞-group
is the 1-image of the canonical morphism from remark .
A Hamiltonian action of an ∞-group on is an ∞-group homomorphism of the form
An ∞-moment map is an -group homomorphism
The Heisenberg ∞-group for a given Hamiltonian -action is the homotopy pullback
For Smooth∞Grpd, for a smooth manifold and for a prequantum line bundle on , then is Souriau’s quantomorphism group covering the Hamiltonian diffeomorphism group. In the case that is a symplectic vector space regarded as a linear symplectic manifold with Hamiltonian action on itself by translation, then is the traditional Heisenberg group.
Since is by construction a 1-monomorphism, given any -action on , not necessarily Hamiltonian, then the homotopy pullback is the Heisenberg ∞-group of the maximal sub--group of which does act via Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms. Therefore we will also write in this case.
The following is the refinement of the Kostant-Souriau extension to higher differential geometry
Given a -principal ∞-connection , there is a homotopy fiber sequence of the form
if is 0-truncated then
if then
exhibiting the quantomorphism ∞-group as an ∞-group extension of the Hamiltonian symplectomorphism ∞-group by the moduli stack of flat ∞-connections, classified by a cocycle .
(FRS13a)
In Smooth∞Grpd, let be the circle (p+1)-group and let be p-connected, then . Hence here prop. gives
Given a -principal ∞-connection , and for a -Hamiltonian action, then there is a homotopy fiber sequence
if is 0-truncated then
if then
exhibiting the Heisenberg ∞-group as an ∞-group extension of the by the moduli stack of flat ∞-connections, classified by a cocycle .
The class of the cocycle is the obstruction to prequantizing to a moment map (the classical anomaly of ); and the the Heisenberg ∞-group extension of is the universal cancellation of this anomaly.
We consider now the globalization of higher WZW terms on higher group stacks to higher manifolds/schemes that are locally modeled on .
For this application we now make use of the fact that the -toposes we are interested in are differentially cohesive (dcct) and in particular are equipped with an operation that sends every stack to its de Rham stack obtained by identifiying infinitesimal neighbour points.
Given then a morphism is a local diffeomorphism if its naturality square of the infinitesimal shape modality
is a homotopy pullback square.
Let now be given, equipped with the structure of a group (∞-group).
A -manifold is an such that there exists a -atlas, namely a correspondence of the form
with both morphisms being local diffeomorphisms, def. , and the right one in addition being an epimorphism, hence an atlas.
For an object and a point, then we say that the infinitesimal neighbourhood of, or the infinitesimal disk at in is the homotopy fiber of the unit of the infinitesimal shape modality at :
For any object in differential cohesion, its infinitesimal disk bundle is the homotopy pullback
of the unit of its infinitesimal shape modality along itself.
By the pasting law, the homotopy fiber of the infinitesimal disk bundle, def. , over any point is the infinitesimal disk in at that point, def.. Nevertheless, for general the infinitesimal disk bundle need not be an fiber ∞-bundle with typical fiber (the infinitesimal disks at different points need not be equivalent, and even if they are, the bundle need not be locally trivial). Below in prop. we see that for a -manifold modeled on a group object , then its infinitesimal disk bundle is indeed an fiber ∞-bundle, and hence is the associated ∞-bundle to some principal ∞-bundle. That principal bundle is the frame bundle of .
By the definition of local diffeos and using the pasting law we have an equivalence of pasting diagrams of homotopy pullbacks of the following form:
For an object, a framing on is a trivialization of its infinitesimal disk bundle, def. , i.e. an object – the typical infinitesimal disk or formal disk, def. , – and a (chosen) equivalence
For a framed object, def. , we write
for the automorphism ∞-group of its typical infinitesimal disk/formal disk.
This class of examples of framings is important:
Every differentially cohesive ∞-group is canonically framed (def. ) such that the horizontal map in def. is given by the left action of on its infinitesimal disk at the neutral element:
By the discussion at Mayer-Vietoris sequence in the section Over an ∞-group and using that the infinitesimal shape modality preserves group structure, the defining homotopy pullback of , def. , is equivalent to the pasting of pullback diagrams
where the right square is the defining pullback for the infinitesimal disk . Finally for the left square we find by this proposition that and that the top horizontal morphism is as claimed.
For a framed object, def. , let be a -manifold, def. . Then the infinitesimal disk bundle, def. , of canonically trivializes over any -cover , i.e. there is a homotopy pullback of the form
This exhibits as a -fiber ∞-bundle.
By this discussion this fiber fiber ∞-bundle is the associated ∞-bundle of an essentially uniquely determined -principal ∞-bundle , i.e. there exists a homotopy pullback diagram of the form
Given a -manifold , def. , for framed , def. , then its frame bundle
is the -principal ∞-bundle given by prop. via remark .
By prop. the construction of frame bundles in def. is functorial in formally étale maps between -manifolds.
Let be framed, def. , let be an ∞-group and a homomorphism to the general linear group of , def. , hence
a morphism between the deloopings.
For a -manifold, def. , a G-structure on is a lift of the structure group of its frame bundle, def. , to , hence a diagram
hence a morphism
in the slice (∞,1)-topos.
In fact is the moduli ∞-stack of such -structures.
The double slice is the (∞,1)-category of such -structures.
For framed, def. , and a -manifold, def. , then a -structure on is integrable (or locally flat) if there exists a -cover
such that the correspondence of frame bundles induced via remark
(a diagram in ) extends to a sliced correspondence between and the trivial -structure on , example , hence to a diagram in of the form
On the other hand, is called infinitesimally integrable (or torsion-free) if such an extension exists (only) after restriction to all infinitesimal disks in and , hence after composition
with the collection of all infinitesimal disks (the “relative flat modality”), this is also formally étale and hence induces map of frame bundles):
The concept of extending a closed differential form defined on a Cartesian space to a definite form on an -dimensional manifold is familiar from special holonomy manifolds. For instance a definite globalization of the associative 3-form on to a 7-manifold induces and is induced by a G2-structure. But by the discussion at geometry of physics – prequantum geometry, whenever we see a closed differential form we have to ask whether it is the curvature of a cocycle in differential cohomology, hence we have to ask for a higher prequantization. Here we consider the concept of definite forms prequantized to such definite globalizations of WZW terms.
Given a -fiber ∞-bundle over , and given any coefficient , there is a natural equivalence beween
morphisms ;
sections of the canonically associated ∞-bundle over .
Given a -fiber ∞-bundle over , and a global element then a section of is definite on if there exists a 1-epimorphism and a diagram
Choices of sections definite on are equivalent to reductions of the structure group along the stabilizer group map .
Given , and given a -fiber ∞-bundle over , then a definite parameterization of over is a such that the section coresponding to it via prop. is definite on in the sense of def. .
For an ∞-group, a WZW term, and for a V-manifold, then a definite globalization of over is
A reduction of the structure group, def. , of the frame bundle of along
for the infinitesimal disk in ;
an such that its pullback to the infinitesimal disk bundle of is definite, def. , on , def. .
Since, according to prop. , the second item in def. implies a lift/reduction of the structure group to , in total this requires a reduction/lift to the Heisenberg ∞-group
This G-structure we require to be first order integrable (with respect to the canonical left-invariant framing of .)
Let Smooth∞Grpd.
For the Liouville-Poincaré 1-form (regarded as a principal connection on the trivial circle bundle), then a definite globalization of is a symplectic manifold equipped with a prequantum line bundle.
for a potential for the associative 3-form, then a definite globalization is a manifold with G2-structure equipped with a bundle gerbe with connection whose 3-form curvature is .
In SuperFormalSmooth∞Grpd and for being super Minkowski spacetime of bosonic dimension regarded as the supersymmetry super-translation group in that dimension, and for the WZW term induced by differential Lie integration (here) from the super Lie algebra cocycles of the brane scan in these dimensions, then the Heisenberg ∞-group in def. is a -∞-group extension of the Lorentz group in these dimensions.
This means that a choice of definite globalization of over a supermanifold is in particular a choice of super-orthogonal structure, hence a choice of graviton and of a gravitino field.
The condition that this G-structure be first-order integrable with respect to the canonical left-invariant framing of super Minkowski spacetime then means that the supertorsion of this orthogonal structure vanishes.
For this is the torsion constraint of supergravity. By (Candiello-Lechner 93, Howe 97) this implies that the above graviton and gravitino field satisfy the Einstein equations for bosonic backgrounds of 11-dimensional supergravity.
This in turn implies in particular that the curvature of the WZW term is the fermionic component of the supergravity C-field field strength. This finally means that itself is a consistent choice of prequantization of this hence a genuinely globally defined WZW term for the Green-Schwarz sigma model for the M2-brane with target space .
Once a -manifold is equipped with a definite globalization of a WZW term , according to , and hence also with a G-structure for the suitable homotopy stabilizer group of on infinitesimal disks, then the automorphism ∞-group is naturally “broken” to the homotopy stabilizer group of this extra data. The stabilizer of the -structure itself yields the isometry group , but since the higher WZW term has in general higher gauge symmetries, the total homotopy stabilizer of the triple is a Heisenberg ∞-group extension of that. Since for the case of applications to supergravity (examples , below) the 0-truncation of this ∞-group extension turns out to be the extension by BPS charges, we here speak, for lack of any other established term, generally of BPS charge groups for homotopy stabilizers of definitely globalized higher WZW terms. See (Sati-Schreiber 15) for more.
Given a definite globalization of a WZW term, def. , hence in particular a G-structure on for , then the corresponding BPS charge group is the Heisenberg n-group, def. , of over the isometry group of this -structure:
For super Minkowski spacetime, then the super L-∞ algebra of , def. is the Poisson bracket L-∞ algebra of regarded as a pre-(p+1)-plectic form on . See the discussion in (FRS 13b, section 4).
Consider now two consecutive WZW terms
with defined on the differential refinement of the ∞-group extension
which is the underlying -principal ∞-bundle underlying .
Given two consecutive WZW terms, and given a define globalization, def. , of over a -manifold then
By this proposition it is consistent to ask for a consecutive definitite globalization of two consecutive WZW term
The BPS charge -group of this setup is
By cor. this is an ∞-group extension of by
. Forgetting the differential part of the twist, this extension group receives a map from .
We now concentrate on the consecutive WZW terms, def. , given, according to The brane bouquet above, by the cocycles for the M2-brane, and for the M5-brane:
Here denotes the “supergravity Lie 3-algebra” regarded as an extended super Minkowski spacetime and denotes the “supergravity Lie 6-algebra”. Both hooks in the diagram are homotopy fiber sequences in the homotopy theory of super L-∞ algebras.
By the discussion in session II, applying differentially refined Lie integration to this yields two consecutive higher WZW terms of the form
(Here, by the van Est isomorphism, we do not notationally distinguish super Minkowski spacetime regarded as a super Lie algebra or a super Lie group.)
By example a choice of definite globalization of is equivalent to bosonic solution to the Einstein equations of 11-dimensional supergravity equipped with a compatible globally defined (i.e. classical anomaly free) WZW term for the M2-brane Green-Schwarz sigma model with target space .
By prop. this defines an extended superspacetime which is a higher Cartan geometry of locally modeled on the supergravity Lie 3-algebra on which the local M5-brane Green-Schwarz sigma model is defined, and hence may ask for a choice of definite globalization of that
This is now a globally well defined background for the M5-brane sigma model and def. determines its BPS-charge super-6-group. By corollary this is a super 6-group extension of the superisometry group of by .
By the discussion at geometry of physics – WZW terms – Consecutive WZW terms the extended spacetime here is such that smooth maps into it
(which are the fields of the M5-brane sigma model with WZW term ) are equivalently pairs, consisting of
a smooth function into the actual spacetime ;
a cocycle in -twisted degree-3 Deligne cohomology on , hence a 2-form gauge field on , subject to certain compatibility conditions with the function .
The first item here is the evident sigma model field, the second 2-form field is part of the “tensor multiplet” on the M5-brane, exhibiting the Green-Schwarz sigma-model for the M5-brane as a higher gauged WZW model.
Now to consider the BPS charge group of , def. . By corollary this is an ∞-group extension of the super-isometry group of the 11-dimensional super spacetime by the moduli stack of flat 5-form connection on the extended spacetime.
This receives a map from the moduli of 5-form connections of the extended spacetime (which is . This consists of the cohomological data without the differential cohomologica data in ): it is the -principal ∞-bundle which sits in the homotopy fiber sequence of the form
Under Lie differentiation and via prop. , turns into hence into . Under the adjunction between shape modality and flat modality , this is the degree-5 real cohomology of the geometric realization of . This in turns is a K(Z,3)-fibration over the underlying bare homotopy type of spacetime which is classified by the integral degree-4 class which is the higher Dixmier-Douady class of .
The degree-5 real cohomology of such a fibration is computed by a Serre spectral sequence. By the discussion at Eilenberg-MacLane space – cohomology of EM spaces only very few entries in this spectral sequence contribute, and the result is the middle cohomology of this sequence
where is given by taking the cup product with the class of the M2-WZW term.
This is the group of M2-brane and M5-brane charges with corrections by global effects, in the corrected M-theory super Lie algebra for the superspacetime .
We saw above in example an intimate analogy between G2-manifold structure and solutions to 11-dimensional supergravity, both come from globalizing a local form to a definite form in a torsion-free way:
A torsion-free definite globalization of the associative 3-form on is a G2-manifold;
a torsion-free definite globalization of the M2-brane cocycle on is a solution to the Einstein equations of motion of 11-dimensional supergravity.
It is possible and natural to combine these two phenomena: if we consider coefficients not just in but in the complexification , then there is the complex linear combination of both terms to a complex 2-gerbe:
where we regard as a 3-form on coming from the second summand, and then regard it as a closed connection 3-form for a 2-gerbe.
Now a definite globalization of enforces both the above constraints, hence is given by 11-dimensional super spacetimes that solve the Einstein equations of motion and which are fibered by G2-manifolds.
This is precisely the setup of the situation of interest in string phenomenology, see at M-theory on G2-manifolds. In fact since we are globalizing in higher differential geometry, the globalizations may carry orbifold singularities, just as needed for the conjectured phenomenon of gauge enhancement.
More is true: since the globalization of over a G2-manifold is a calibration, and since supersymmetric 3-cycles in -manifolds come from associative submanifolds, which are the calibrated submanifolds, it follows that the volume holonomy of on M2-branes that are wrapped on such cycles is precisely the membrane instanton contribution
We give detailed pointers to the literature in the above text. Here we just list the original articles that the above lecture notes are based on.
John Baez, Alissa Crans, Urs Schreiber, Danny Stevenson, From loop groups to 2-groups, Homology Homotopy Appl. Volume 9, Number 2 (2007), 101-135. (arXiv:math/0504123)
Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, Jim Stasheff, L-infinity algebra connections and applications to String- and Chern-Simons n-transport, in Quantum Field Theory, Birkhäuser (2009) 303-424 (arXiv:0801.3480)
Hisham Sati, Geometric and topological structures related to M-branes, part I, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. 81 (2010), 181-236 (arXiv:1001.5020)
Domenico Fiorenza, Urs Schreiber, Jim Stasheff, Cech Cocycles for Differential characteristic Classes, Adv. in Theor. and Mathem. Physics, Volume 16 Issue 1 (2012), pages 149-250 (arXiv:1011.4735)
Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, Jim Stasheff, Twisted Differential String and Fivebrane Structures, Communications in Mathematical Physics, Volume 315, Issue 1 (2012) (arXiv:0910.4001)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, The moduli 3-stack of the C-field, Communications in Mathematical Physics, Volume 333, Issue 1 (2015), Page 117-151 (arXiv:1202.2455)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, Multiple M5-branes, String 2-connections, and 7d nonabelian Chern-Simons theory, Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, Volume 18, Number 2 (2014) (arXiv:1201.5277)
Thomas Nikolaus, Urs Schreiber, Danny Stevenson, Principal ∞-bundles – General theory, Journal of Homotopy and Related Structures, Volume 10, Issue 4 (2015) (arXiv:1207.0248)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, Super Lie -algebra extensions, higher WZW models and super -branes with tensor multiplet fields, International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics, Volume 12, Issue 02 (2015) 1550018 (arXiv:1308.5264)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, The WZW term of the M5-brane, J. Math. Phys. 56, 102301 (2015) (arXiv:1506.07557)
Domenico Fiorenza, Chris Rogers, Urs Schreiber, Higher geometric prequantum theory (arXiv:1304.0236)
Domenico Fiorenza, Chris Rogers, Urs Schreiber, -algebras of local observables from higher prequantum bundles, Homology, Homotopy and Applications, Volume 16 (2014) Number 2, p. 107 ? 142 (arXiv:1304.6292)
Hisham Sati, Framed M-branes, corners, and topological invariants, (arXiv:1310.1060)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, The WZW term of the M5-brane and differential cohomotopy, J. Math. Phys. 56, 102301 (2015) (arXiv:1506.07557)
Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, Lie n-algebras of BPS charges (arXiv:1507.08692)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, Rational sphere valued supercocycles in M-theory, to appear in Journal of Geometry and Physics (arXiv:1606.03206)
Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber, T-Duality from super Lie n-algebra cocycles for super p-branes (arXiv:1611.06536)
Urs Schreiber, Igor Khavkine, Lie n-algebras of higher Noether currents
Last revised on April 13, 2017 at 17:32:03. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.