arXiv research

Characterizes $Q$-manifold bundles over $C$-spaces.

The study provides homological characterizations for $Q$-manifolds and $l_2$-manifolds.

We define and make an initial study of (even) Riemannian supermanifolds equipped with a homological vector field that is also a Killing vector field. We refer to such supermanifolds as Riemannian Q-manifolds. We show that such Q-manifolds are unimodular, i.e., come equipped with a Q-invariant Berezin volume.

We reformulate the notion of a Jacobi algebroid in terms of weighted odd Jacobi brackets. We then show how a Jacobi algebroid can be understood in terms of a kind of curved Q-manifold. In particular the homological condition on the odd vector field is deformed in a very specific way. This leads to the notion of a quasi…

New Q-manifolds theory integrates Lie algebroids.

A Q-manifold is a supermanifold equipped with an odd vector field that squares to zero. The notion of the modular class of a Q-manifold -- which is viewed as the obstruction to the existence of a Q-invariant Berezin volume -- is not well know. We review the basic ideas and then apply this technology to various examples…

We present a general framework for reduction of symplectic Q-manifolds via graded group actions. In this framework, the homological structure on the acting group is a multiplicative multivector field.

Study examines Lie algebroids with homological sections, generalizing Q-manifolds and Lie superalgebras.

We show how the relation between $Q$-manifolds and Lie algebroids extends to ``higher'' or ``non-linear'' analogs of Lie algebroids. We study the identities satisfied by a new algebraic structure that arises as a replacement of operations on sections of a Lie algebroid. When the base is a point, we obtain a generalizat…

Study modular class of Lie ∞-algebroids and their adjoint actions.

A $Q$-manifold $M$ is a supermanifold endowed with an odd vector field $Q$ squaring to zero. The Lie derivative $L_Q$ along $Q$ makes the algebra of smooth tensor fields on $M$ into a differential algebra. In this paper, we define and study the invariants of $Q$-manifolds called characteristic classes. These take value…

This text is meant to be a brief overview of the topics announced in the title and is based on my talk in Vienna (August/September 2007). It does not contain new results (except probably for a remark concerning Q-manifold homology, which I wish to elaborate elsewhere). "Mackenzie theory" stands for the rich circle of n…

In this paper we define a Grassmann odd analogue of Jacobi structure on a supermanifold. The basic properties are explored. The construction of odd Jacobi manifolds is then used to reexamine the notion of a Jacobi algebroid. It is shown that Jacobi algebroids can be understood in terms of a kind of curved Q-manifold, w…

Study finds modular classes help in proving Berezin volumes for supersymmetric theories.

Geometric structures on $\mathbb N Q$-manifolds, i.e.~non-negatively graded manifolds with an homological vector field, encode non-graded geometric data on Lie algebroids and their higher analogues. A particularly relevant class of structures consists of vector bundle valued differential forms. Symplectic forms, contac…

This thesis generalizes structures on $\mathcal{Q}$-manifolds and Lie $n$-algebroids.

We give an exposition of graded and microformal geometry, and the language of $Q$-manifolds. $Q$-manifolds are supermanifolds endowed with an odd vector field of square zero. They can be seen as a non-linear analogue of Lie algebras (in parallel with even and odd Poisson manifolds), a basis of "non-linear homological a…

Normal forms for Q-structures on graded manifolds explained.

Deformations of a Courant Algebroid E and its Dirac subbundle A have been widely considered under the assumption that the pseudo-Euclidean metric is fixed. In this paper, we attack the same problem in a setting that allows the pseudo-Euclidean metric to deform. Thanks to Roytenberg, a Courant algebroid is equivalent to…

New algebraic structures on manifolds generalize supergeometry concepts.

We give a simple characterization of Mackenzie's double Lie algebroids in terms of homological vector fields. Application to the `Drinfeld double' of Lie bialgebroids is given and an extension to the multiple case is suggested.

We show that $L_{\infty}$-algebroids, understood in terms of Q-manifolds can be described in terms of certain higher Schouten and Poisson structures on graded (super)manifolds. This generalises known constructions for Lie (super)algebras and Lie algebroids.

A Q-manifold is a graded manifold endowed with a vector field of degree one squaring to zero. We consider the notion of a Q-bundle, that is, a fiber bundle in the category of Q-manifolds. To each homotopy class of ``gauge fields'' (sections in the category of graded manifolds) and each cohomology class of a certain sub…

We define the notion of characteristic classes for supermanifolds endowed with a homological vector field $Q$. These take values in the cohomology of the Lie derivative operator $L_Q$ acting on arbitrary tensor fields. We formulate a classification theorem for intrinsic characteristic classes and give their explicit de…

Combines generalized and graded geometry to explore new structures.

We study the graded geometric point of view of curvature and torsion of Q-manifolds (differential graded manifolds). In particular, we get a natural graded geometric definition of Courant algebroid curvature and torsion, which correctly restrict to Dirac structures. Depending on an auxiliary affine connection K, we int…

It is well-known that a Lie algebroid A is equivalently described by a degree 1 Q-manifold M. We study distributions on M, giving a characterization in terms of A. We show that involutive Q-invariant distributions on M correspond bijectively to IM-foliations on A (the infinitesimal version of Mackenzie's ideal systems)…

This work explores symplectic structures on graded manifolds and higher Lie groupoids.

We approach Mackenzie's LA-groupoids from a supergeometric point of view by introducing Q-groupoids, which are groupoid objects in the category of Q-manifolds. There is a faithful functor from the category of LA-groupoids to the category of Q-groupoids. We associate to every Q-groupoid a double complex that provides a …

We extend the Gallot-Tanno Theorem to closed pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. It is done by showing that if the cone over a manifold admits a parallel symmetric $(0,2)-$tensor then it is Riemannian. Applications of this result to the existence of metrics with distinct Levi-Civita connections but having the same unparametri…

We show that by taking a certain scaling limit of a Euclideanised form of the Plebanski-Demianski metrics one obtains a family of local toric Kahler-Einstein metrics. These can be used to construct local Sasaki-Einstein metrics in five dimensions which are generalisations of the Y^{p,q} manifolds. In fact, we find that…

Double Lie algebroids were discovered by Kirill Mackenzie from the study of double Lie groupoids and were defined in terms of rather complicated conditions making use of duality theory for Lie algebroids and double vector bundles. In this paper we establish a simple alternative characterization of double Lie algebroids…

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…

New $L_\infty$ algebra governs deformations of Dirac-Jacobi structures.

We work in the smooth category. The following problem was suggested by E. Rees in 2002: describe the precomposition action of self-diffeomorphisms of S^p x S^q on the set of isotopy classes of embeddings S^p x S^q -> R^m. Let g : S^p x S^q -> R^m be an embedding such that g |_{a x S^q} : a x S^q -> R^m - g (b x S^q) is…

Starting with minimal requirements from the physical experience with higher gauge theories, i.e. gauge theories for a tower of differential forms of different form degrees, we discover that all the structural identities governing such theories can be concisely recombined into a so-called Q-structure or, equivalently, a…

Recently an infinite family of explicit Sasaki-Einstein metrics Y^{p,q} on S^2 x S^3 has been discovered, where p and q are two coprime positive integers, with q<p. These give rise to a corresponding family of Calabi-Yau cones, which moreover are toric. Aided by several recent results in toric geometry, we show that th…

This research extends Lie algebra actions to singular foliations.