Related papers: Loop Groups, Higgs Fields and Generalised String C…

Classically, a spin structure on the loop space of a manifold is a lift of the structure group of the looped frame bundle from the loop group to its universal central extension. Heuristically, the loop space of a manifold is spin if and…

A systematic consideration of the problem of the reduction and extension of the structure group of a principal bundle is made and a variety of techniques in each case are explored and related to one another. We apply these to the study of…

The aim of this paper is to give a proof of the restriction theorems for principal bundles with a reductive algebraic group as structure group in arbitrary characteristic. Let $G$ be a reductive algebraic group over any field $k=\bar{k}$,…

We develop a description of higher gauge theory with higher groupoids as gauge structure from first principles. This approach captures ordinary gauge theories and gauged sigma models as well as their categorifications on a very general…

Lifting supersymmetric quantum mechanics to loop space yields the superstring. A particle charged under a fiber bundle thereby turns into a string charged under a 2-bundle, or gerbe. This stringification is nothing but categorification. We…

We study bundle gerbes on manifolds $M$ that carry an action of a connected Lie group $G$. We show that these data give rise to a smooth 2-group extension of $G$ by the smooth 2-group of hermitean line bundles on $M$. This 2-group extension…

In this paper, we consider a generalization of the theory of Higgs bundles over a smooth complex projective curve in which the twisting of the Higgs field by the canonical bundle of the curve is replaced by a rank 2 vector bundle. We define…

We provide a general, homotopy-theoretic definition of string group models within an $\infty$-category of smooth spaces, and we present new smooth models for the string group. Here, a smooth space is a presheaf of $\infty$-groupoids on the…

Let G be a Lie goup, let M and N be smooth connected G-manifolds, let f be a smooth G-map from M to N, and let P denote the fiber of f. Given a closed and equivariantly closed relative 2-form for f with integral periods, we construct the…

This expository paper details the theory of rank one Higgs bundles over a closed Riemann surface X and their relationship to representations of the fundamental group of X. We construct an equivalence between the deformation theories of flat…

The notion of global higher-form symmetries has received much attention, but leaves room for a more systematic mathematical formulation. In this article, we highlight the concept of higher automorphism bundles from the field of higher…

We describe a class of supersymmetric unified models with the following properties: i) the full breaking of the gauge group is achieved by Higgs fields in the fundamental representation; ii) the correct unification of the strong and…

By virtue of the well-known theorem, a structure Lie group K of a principal bundle $P$ is reducible to its closed subgroup H iff there exists a global section of the quotient bundle P/K. In gauge theory, such sections are treated as Higgs…

In this paper we work out some basic results concerning heterotic string compactifications on stacks and, in particular, gerbes. A heterotic string compactification on a gerbe can be understood as, simultaneously, both a compactification on…

In this paper we generalize the theory of multiplicative $G$-Higgs bundles over a curve to pairs $(G,\theta)$, where $G$ is a reductive algebraic group and $\theta$ is an involution of $G$. This generalization involves the notion of a…

Given a smooth complex projective variety $M$ and a smooth closed curve $X \subset M$ such that the homomorphism of fundamental groups $\pi_1(X) \rightarrow \pi_1(M)$ is surjective, we study the restriction map of Higgs bundles, namely from…

We elaborate on the construction of a prequantum 2-Hilbert space from a bundle gerbe over a 2-plectic manifold, providing the first steps in a program of higher geometric quantisation of closed strings in flux compactifications and of…

Using basic homotopy constructions, we show that isomorphism classes of string structures on spin bundles are naturally given by certain degree 3 cohomology classes, which we call string classes, on the total space of the bundle. Using a…

We consider classical gauge theory on a principal bundle P->X in a case of spontaneous symmetry breaking characterized by the reduction of a structure group G of P->X to its closed subgroup H. This reduction is ensured by the existence of…

We discuss various lifting and reduction problems for bundles and gerbes in the context of a strict Lie 2-group. We obtain a geometrical formulation (and a new proof) for the exactness of Breen's long exact sequence in non-abelian…