English

Towards 2-dimensional non-commutative integrals

Mathematical Physics 2025-02-03 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory math.MP

Abstract

We collect evidence that the notion of path-ordered non-abelian integration admits an extension to two dimensions. We propose the corresponding notion of non-abelian 2-form along the lines of Lie algebroid theory and argue it is an appropriate one. The processes of parallel transport and integration turn out to be subtly different in the 2-dimensional case; we discuss parallel transport along surfaces and present an indirect definition of a non-abelian integral. This integral includes, for specific choices of 2-forms, both abelian integrals and the continuous limit of Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula as special cases; it interpolates between those cases and broadly generalizes them, allowing, for example, an analog of path-exponential with local, point-depending commutators to be spoken about. We comment on all these objects, their relations, gauge symmetries and geometrical meaning, and roughly sketch a plausible order-by-order procedure for obtaining formulas for non-abelian integrals. The exposition is reasonably concrete, relying on no notions more abstract than sections of vector bundles and homotopies.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.19324,
  title  = {Towards 2-dimensional non-commutative integrals},
  author = {Pavel Suprun},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.19324},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

20 pages, 4 figures. v2: added the low-order discussion of integration over infinitesimal domains

R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:21:39.503Z