(Higher) Gauge Theories and Q-bundles
or
Nonabelian Gerbes and V-twisted Courant algebroids
by
Thomas Strobl(Lyon)
→
Europe/Stockholm
A4:1069
A4:1069
Description
We present a general framework for a tower of p-form gauge fields,
where the form degree includes p=0 (scalar fields) up to some highest
degree p=q. For the special case of q=1 and no scalar fields the
construction reproduces the setting of ordinary Yang-Mills gauge
theories. In particular, principal bundles give rise to particular
Q-bundles (which we will define in the talk) and connections in the
former to sections in the latter bundles. Characteristis classes in
this setting are related to topological field theories such as the
Poisson sigma model, in generalization of the relation of the
Pontryagin class with the Chern Simons gauge theory. The language of
Q-bundles becomes particularly helpful in the case where p is bigger
than one, such as in the case of nonabelian gerbes. We finally present
a gauge invariant action functional which reduces to Yang-Mills
theory for q=1.
