arXiv research

We find canonical gauges for higher gauge theories in 2- and 3-gauge theories.

New method for non-abelian parallel transport in higher gauge theories.

Survey on advanced gauge theory concepts.

Higher gauge theory via differential nonabelian cohomology

In the first part of this paper, we work out a perturbative Lagrangian formulation of semistrict higher gauge theory, that avoids the subtleties of the relationship between Lie 2-groups and algebras by relying exclusively on the structure semistrict Lie 2-algebra v and its automorphism 2-group Aut(v). Gauge transformat…

This is the first of a series of two technical papers devoted to the analysis of holonomy invariants in strict higher gauge theory with end applications in higher Chern--Simons theory. For a flat 2--connection, we define the 2-holonomy of surface knots of arbitrary genus and determine its covariance properties under 1-…

Study of symmetries in 2D Yang-Mills theory, including orbifolds and higher forms.

Higher Gauge Flow Models integrate higher geometry and symmetries into Generative Flow Models.

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 module cocycle and cocycle 1- and 2-gauge transformation with a non standard do…

The paper proves a global geometric formula for volume holonomy in gauge theory.

The notion of a higher bundle gerbe is introduced to give a geometric realization of the higher degree integral cohomology of certain manifolds. We consider examples using the infinite dimensional spaces arising in gauge theories.

New model calculates Wilson surfaces in higher gauge theory.

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 class of (higher) spaces comprising presentable differentiable stacks, as e.g. orbif…

New representations of loop braid group from higher gauge theory effects.

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 formalism and in local coordinates. These are the gauge fields needed for the con…

Lectures on M-theory's higher structures, from local to global.

New insights into 4d YM and 5d topological field theories with higher symmetries.

Develops a new approach to describe gauge theories with background fields using presymplectic structures.

This article reviews $\infty$-bundles and their applications in geometry and physics.

This is the second of a series of two technical papers devoted to the analysis of holonomy invariants in strict higher gauge theory with end applications in higher Chern--Simons theory. We provide a definition of trace over a crossed module such to yield surface knot invariants upon application to 2-holonomies. We show…

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 is a categorified version of a bundle: that is, one where the fiber is not a ma…

We prove the non-abelian Poincare lemma in higher gauge theory in two different ways. The first method uses a result by Jacobowitz which states solvability conditions for differential equations of a certain type. The second method extends a proof by Voronov and yields the explicit gauge parameters connecting a flat loc…

We formulate differential cohomology and Chern-Weil theory -- the theory of connections on fiber bundles and of gauge fields -- abstractly in the context of a certain class of higher toposes that we call "cohesive". Cocycles in this differential cohomology classify higher principal bundles equipped with cohesive struct…

Analyzes quantization of flux observables in gauge theories.

We review and elaborate on some aspects of the quantization of certain classes of higher abelian gauge theories using techniques of generalized differential cohomology. Particular emphasis is placed on the examples of generalized Maxwell theory and Cheeger-Simons cohomology, and of Ramond-Ramond fields in Type II super…

This paper develops a geometric framework for Wilson surfaces in higher gauge theory.

We formulate a 4-dimensional higher gauge theoretic Chern-Simons theory. Its symmetry is encoded in a semistrict Lie 2-algebra equipped with an invariant non singular bilinear form. We analyze the gauge invariance of the theory and show that action is invariant under a higher gauge transformation up to a higher winding…

Paper introduces Tensor Gauge Flow Models for better data encoding.

Novel $A_{\infty}$-categories derived from gauge theories for manifold homologies.

This work extends Chern correspondence to higher gauge theory.

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 '2-group'. We focus on 6 examples. First, every abelian Lie group gives a Lie 2-gr…

We give a complete and explicit description of the kinematical data of higher gauge theory on principal 2-bundles with the string 2-group model of Schommer-Pries as structure 2-group. We start with a self-contained review of the weak 2-category Bibun of Lie groupoids, bibundles and bibundle morphisms. We then construct…

A BV algebra is a formal framework within which the BV quantization algorithm is implemented. In addition to the gauge symmetry, encoded in the BV master equation, the master action often exhibits further global symmetries, which may be in turn gauged. We show how to carry this out in a BV algebraic set up. Depending o…

Generalizes momentum sections to higher-dimensional gauged sigma models.

We construct manifestly superconformal field theories in six dimensions which contain a non-Abelian tensor multiplet. In particular, we show how principal 3-bundles over a suitable twistor space encode solutions to these self-dual tensor field theories via a Penrose-Ward transform. The resulting higher or categorified …

Unified view of spectral networks linking geometry and gauge theory.

Constructs parallel transport in higher gauge theory using principal 2-bundles.

Groups $Π_k(X;σ)$ of "flagged homotopies" are introduced of which the usual (abelian for $k>1$) homotopy groups $π_k(X;p)$ is the limit case for flags $σ$ contracted to a point $p$. Calculus of exterior forms with values in algebra $A$ is developped of which the limit cases are differential forms calculus (for $A=\bb R…

Study of $U(1)$ gauge theories on $G_2$ manifolds, including instantons and Chern-Simons.

We consider dimensional reduction of gauge theories with arbitrary gauge group in a formalism based on equivariant principal bundles. For the classical gauge groups we clarify the relations between equivariant principal bundles and quiver bundles, and show that the reduced quiver gauge theories are all generically buil…

We enhance the action of higher abelian gauge theory associated to a gerbe on an M5-brane with an action of a torus ${\mathbb T}^n (n\ge 2)$, by a noncommutative ${\mathbb T}^n$-deformation of the M5-brane. The ingredients of the noncommutative action and equations of motion include the deformed Hodge duality, deformed…

The worldvolume theory of coincident M5-branes is expected to contain a nonabelian 2-form/nonabelian gerbe gauge theory that is a higher analog of self-dual Yang-Mills theory. But the precise details -- in particular the global moduli / instanton / magnetic charge structure -- have remained elusive. Here we deduce from…

Global Double Field Theory is a higher-dimensional generalization of Kaluza-Klein theory.

Study quantum aspects of 1-form symmetries using BV-BRST cohomology and gerbes.

Machine learning knot invariants with physics applications.

Method constructs 2-bundles over homogeneous spaces.

The purpose of this contribution is to point out connections between recent ideas about gerbes and gerbal actions (as higher categorical extension of representation theory) and old discussion in quantum field theory on commutator anomalies, gauge group extensions, and 3-cocycles. The unifying concept is the classical o…

We study some graded geometric constructions appearing naturally in the context of gauge theories. Inspired by a known relation of gauging with equivariant cohomology we generalize the latter notion to the case of arbitrary Q-manifolds introducing thus the concept of equivariant Q-cohomology. Using this concept we desc…