English

Gerbes over posets and twisted C*-dynamical systems

Operator Algebras 2019-11-20 v4 Algebraic Topology Category Theory

Abstract

A base Δ\Delta generating the topology of a space MM becomes a partially ordered set (poset), when ordered under inclusion of open subsets. Given a precosheaf over Δ\Delta of fixed-point spaces (typically C*-algebras) under the action of a group GG, in general one cannot find a precosheaf of GG-spaces having it as fixed-point precosheaf. Rather one gets a gerbe over Δ\Delta, that is, a "twisted precosheaf" whose twisting is encoded by a cocycle with coefficients in a suitable 2-group. We give a notion of holonomy for a gerbe, in terms of a non-abelian cocycle over the fundamental group π1(M)\pi_1(M). At the C*-algebraic level, holonomy leads to a general notion of twisted C*-dynamical system, based on a generic 2-group instead of the usual adjoint action on the underlying C*-algebra. As an application of these notions, we study presheaves of group duals (DR-presheaves) and prove that the dual object of a DR-presheaf is a group gerbe over Δ\Delta. It is also shown that any section of a DR-presheaf defines a twisted action of π1(M)\pi_1(M) on a Cuntz algebra.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1708.02110,
  title  = {Gerbes over posets and twisted C*-dynamical systems},
  author = {Ezio Vasselli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.02110},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

Corrected a minor error on Remark 3.4 and Lemma 3.5. To appear on JNCG

R2 v1 2026-06-22T21:08:35.670Z