Related papers: A Global Geometric Approach to Parallel Transport …
Many physical theories, including notably string theory, require non-abelian higher gauge fields defining higher holonomy. Previous approaches to such higher connections on categorified principal bundles require these to be fake flat. This…
The motivation for this paper stems \cite{CR} from the need to construct explicit isomorphisms of (possibly nontrivial) principal $G$-bundles on the space of loops or, more generally, of paths in some manifold $M$, over which I consider a…
A nice differential-geometric framework for (non-abelian) higher gauge theory is provided by principal 2-bundles, i.e. categorified principal bundles. Their total spaces are Lie groupoids, local trivializations are kinds of Morita…
Just as gauge theory describes the parallel transport of point particles using connections on bundles, higher gauge theory describes the parallel transport of 1-dimensional objects (e.g. strings) using 2-connections on 2-bundles. A 2-bundle…
Surface holonomy and the Wess-Zumino phase play a central role in string theory and Chern-Simons models, yet a completely analytic formulation of their nonabelian counterparts has remained elusive. In this work, we show that Yekutieli's…
We study the differential geometry of principal G-bundles whose base space is the space of free paths (loops) on a manifold M. In particular we consider connections defined in terms of pairs (A,B), where A is a connection for a fixed…
We provide a visual and intuitive introduction to effectively calculating in 2-groups along with explicit examples coming from non-abelian 1- and 2-form gauge theory. In particular, we utilize string diagrams, tools similar to tensor…
We introduce an axiomatic framework for the parallel transport of connections on gerbes. It incorporates parallel transport along curves and along surfaces, and is formulated in terms of gluing axioms and smoothness conditions. The…
In this technical paper, we present a new formulation of higher parallel transport in strict higher gauge theory required for the rigorous construction of Wilson lines and surfaces. Our approach is based on an original notion of Lie crossed…
We show that the holonomy of a connection defined on a principal composite bundle is related by a non-abelian Stokes theorem to the composition of the holonomies associated with the connections of the component bundles of the composite. We…
In this easy introduction to higher gauge theory, we describe parallel transport for particles and strings in terms of 2-connections on 2-bundles. Just as ordinary gauge theory involves a gauge group, this generalization involves a gauge…
We develop parallel transport on path spaces from a differential geometric approach, whose integral version connects with the category theoretic approach. In the framework of 2-connections, our approach leads to further development of…
We provide a new perspective on parallel 2-transport and principal 2-group bundles with 2-connection. We define parallel 2-transport as a 2-functor from the thin fundamental 2-groupoid to the 2-category of 2-group torsors. The definition of…
A gauge theory is associated with a principal bundle endowed with a connection permitting to define horizontal lifts of paths. The horizontal lifts of surfaces cannot be defined into a principal bundle structure. An higher gauge theory is…
In this article we consider the application of Euler's homogeneous function theorem together with Stokes' theorem to exactly integrate families of polynomial spaces over general polygonal and polyhedral (polytopic) domains in two- and…
The term higher gauge theory refers to the generalization of gauge theory to a theory of connections at two levels, essentially given by 1- and 2-forms. So far, there have been two approaches to this subject. The differential picture uses…
Just as point objects are parallel transported along curves, giving holonomies, string-like objects are parallel transported along surfaces, giving surface holonomies. Composition of these surfaces correspond to products in a category…
It has been proposed to abandon the requirement that parallel transporters in gauge theories are unitary (or pseudoorthogonal). This leads to a geometric interpretation of Vierbein fields as parts of gauge fields, and nonunitary parallel…
Connections and curvings on gerbes are beginning to play a vital role in differential geometry and mathematical physics -- first abelian gerbes, and more recently nonabelian gerbes. These concepts can be elegantly understood using the…
We introduce homotopy lattice gauge fields (HLGFs), a version of gauge fields over a discretized base, based on a notion of higher parallel transport that enriches the usual parallel transport along paths on a lattice to also consider…