Related papers: A note on bundle gerbes and infinite-dimensionalit…

Many bundle gerbes constructed in practice are either infinite-dimensional, or finite-dimensional but built using submersions that are far from being fibre bundles. Murray and Stevenson proved that gerbes on simply-connected manifolds,…

Just as $\Cstar$ principal bundles provide a geometric realisation of two-dimensional integral cohomology; gerbes or sheaves of groupoids, provide a geometric realisation of three dimensional integral cohomology through their Dixmier-Douady…

We introduce the infinitesimal symmetries of Dixmier-Douady gerbes over a manifold M, both with and without connective structures and curvings. We explore the algebraic structure possessed by these symmetries, and relate them to equivariant…

Let $X$ be a connected topological space and $c \in \mathrm{H}^2(X;\mathbb{Z})$ a non-zero cohomology class. A $\mathrm{Homeo}(X,c)$-bundle is a fiber bundle with fiber $X$ whose structure group reduces to the group $\mathrm{Homeo}(X,c)$ of…

We compare the higher analytic torsion of Bismut and Lott of a fibre bundle p: M -> B equipped with a flat vector bundle F -> M and a fibre-wise Morse function h on M with a higher torsion T that is constructed in terms of a families…

The aim of this talk is to explain how symmetry breaking in a quantum field theory problem leads to a study of projective bundles, Dixmier-Douady classes, and associated gerbes. A gerbe manifests itself in different equivalent ways. Besides…

We clarify the relation between the Dixmier-Douady class on the space of self adjoint Fredholm operators (`universal B-field') and the curvature of determinant bundles over infinite-dimensional Grassmannians. In particular, in the case of…

Bundle gerbes are simple examples of higher geometric structures that show their utility in dealing with topological subtleties of physical theories. I review a recent construction of torsion topological invariants for condensed matter…

In a previous paper we outlined how discrete torsion can be understood geometrically as an analogue of orbifold U(1) Wilson lines. In this paper we shall prove the remaining details. More precisely, in this paper we describe gerbes in terms…

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…

We define and study multiplicative connections in the tangent bundle of a Lie groupoid. Multiplicative connections are linear connections satisfying an appropriate compatibility with the groupoid structure. Our definition is natural in the…

The theory of principal bundles makes sense in any infinity-topos, such as that of topological, of smooth, or of otherwise geometric infinity-groupoids/infinity-stacks, and more generally in slices of these. It provides a natural geometric…

We consider a closed odd-dimensional oriented manifold $M$ together with an acyclic flat hermitean vector bundle $\cF$. We form the trivial fibre bundle with fibre $M$ over the manifold of all Riemannian metrics on $M$. It has a natural…

Bundle gerbes are a higher version of line bundles, we present nonabelian bundle gerbes as a higher version of principal bundles. Connection, curving, curvature and gauge transformations are studied both in a global coordinate independent…

This thesis reviews the theory of bundle gerbes and then examines the higher dimensional notion of a bundle 2-gerbe. The notion of a bundle 2-gerbe connection and 2-curving are introduced and it is shown that there is a class in…

Let $W$ be a finite group and $T$ be an abelian group. Consider an extension $0 \ra T \ra N \ra W \ra 0$. For a smooth projective curve $X$, we give a precise description of the fiber of the quotient by $T$ map $q_T: \cM_X(N) \ra \cM_X(W)$…

In this paper, we develop the theory of singular hermitian metrics on vector bundles. As an application, we give a structure theorem of a projective manifold $X$ with pseudo-effective tangent bundle: $X$ admits a smooth fibration $X \to Y$…

We slightly extend the notion of a natural fibre bundle by requiring diffeomorphisms of the base to lift to automorphisms of the bundle only infinitesimally, i.e. at the level of the Lie algebra of vector fields. Spin structures are natural…

We study $S^1$-bundles and $S^1$-gerbes over differentiable stacks in terms of Lie groupoids, and construct Chern classes and Dixmier-Douady classes in terms of analogues of connections and curvature.

This paper reviews recent work on a new geometric object called a bundle gerbe and discusses some new examples arising in quantum field theory. One application is to an Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theory construction of the bundle of…