Related papers: Rigid models for 2-gerbes I: Chern-Simons geometry

The notion of a gerbe with connection is conveniently reformulated in terms of the simplicial deRham complex. In particular the usual Chern-Weil and Chern-Simons theory is well adapted to this framework and rather easily gives rise to…

For each holomorphic vector bundle we construct a holomorphic bundle 2-gerbe that geometrically represents its second Beilinson-Chern class. Applied to the cotangent bundle, this may be regarded as a higher analogue of the canonical line…

We define a Chern--Simons invariant of connections on stably trivial vector bundles over smooth manifolds, taking values in $3$-forms modulo closed forms with integral cohomology class. We show an additivity property of this invariant for…

We generalize the notion of tight geodesics in the curve complex to tight trees. We then use tight trees to construct model geometries for certain surface bundles over graphs. This extends some aspects of the combinatorial model for doubly…

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…

I categorify the definition of fibre bundle, replacing smooth manifolds with differentiable categories, Lie groups with coherent Lie 2-groups, and bundles with a suitable notion of 2-bundle. To link this with previous work, I show that…

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…

In this article we provide a more detailed account of the geometry and topology of the composite bundle formalism introduced by Tresguerres in Phys. Rev. D 66 (2002) 064025 [1] to accommodate gravitation as a gauge theory. In the first half…

We consider various generalisations of the string class of a loop group bundle. The string class is the obstruction to lifting a bundle whose structure group is the loop group $LG$ to one whose structure group is the Kac-Moody central…

We develop semistrict higher gauge theory from first principles. In particular, we describe the differential Deligne cohomology underlying semistrict principal 2-bundles with connective structures. Principal 2-bundles are obtained in terms…

We investigate how topological entanglement of Chern-Simons theory is captured in a string theoretic realization. Our explorations are motivated by a desire to understand how quantum entanglement of low energy open string degrees of freedom…

We make the category BGrb_M of bundle gerbes on a manifold M into a 2-category by providing 2-cells in the form of transformations of bundle gerbe morphisms. This description of BGrb_M as a 2-category is used to define the notion of a…

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…

We present a construction of a 2-Hilbert space of sections of a bundle gerbe, a suitable candidate for a prequantum 2-Hilbert space in higher geometric quantisation. We introduce a direct sum on the morphism categories in the 2-category of…

Usually bundle gerbes are considered as objects of a 2-groupoid, whose 1-morphisms, called stable isomorphisms, are all invertible. I introduce new 1-morphisms which include stable isomorphisms, trivializations and bundle gerbe modules.…

The aim of this paper is to give an explicit expression for Hitchin's connection in the case of rank 2 bundles with trivial determinant over curves of genus 2. We recall the definition of this connection (which arose in Quantum Field…

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 set up a framework of 2-Hilbert bundles, which allows to rigorously define the "stringor bundle", a higher differential geometric object anticipated by Stolz and Teichner in an unpublished preprint about 20 years ago. Our framework…

We consider an open string version of the topological twist previously proposed for sigma-models with G2 target spaces. We determine the cohomology of open strings states and relate these to geometric deformations of calibrated submanifolds…

We define 2-crossed module bundle 2-gerbes related to general Lie 2-crossed modules and discuss their properties. A 2-crossed module bundle 2-gerbe over a manifold is defined in terms of a so called 2-crossed module bundle gerbe, which is a…