A classic result in the foundations of Yang-Mills theory, due to J. W. Barrett ["Holonomy and Path Structures in General Relativity and Yang-Mills Theory." Int. J. Th. Phys. 30(9), (1991)], establishes that given a "generalized" holonomy map from the space of piece-wise smooth, closed curves based at some point of a manifold to a Lie group, there exists a principal bundle with that group as structure group and a principal connection on that bundle such that the holonomy map corresponds to the holonomies of that connection. Barrett also provided one sense in which this "recovery theorem" yields a unique bundle, up to isomorphism. Here we show that something stronger is true: with an appropriate definition of isomorphism between generalized holonomy maps, there is an equivalence of categories between the category whose objects are generalized holonomy maps on a smooth, connected manifold and whose arrows are holonomy isomorphisms, and the category whose objects are principal connections on principal bundles over a smooth, connected manifold. This result clarifies, and somewhat improves upon, the sense of "unique recovery" in Barrett's theorems; it also makes precise a sense in which there is no loss of structure involved in moving from a principal bundle formulation of Yang-Mills theory to a holonomy, or "loop", formulation.
We show that the holonomy of a connection defined on a principal composite bundle is related by a non-abelian Stokes theorem to the composition of the holonomies associated with the connections of the component bundles of the composite. We apply this formalism to describe the non-abelian geometric phase (when the geometric phase generator does not commute with the dynamical phase generator). We find then an assumption to obtain a new kind of separation between the dynamical and the geometric phases. We also apply this formalism to the gauge theory of gravity in the presence of a Dirac spinor f…
We construct a cycle in higher Hochschild homology associated to the 2-dimensional torus which represents 2-holonomy of a non-abelian gerbe in the same way the ordinary holonomy of a principal G-bundle gives rise to a cycle in ordinary Hochschild homology. This is done using the connection 1-form of Baez-Schreiber. A crucial ingredient in our work is the possibility to arrange that in the structure crossed module mu: g -> h of the principal 2-bundle, the Lie algebra h is abelian, up to equivalence of crossed modules.
We construct and study pushforwards of categorical connections on categorical principal bundles. Applying this construction to the case of decorated path spaces in principal bundles, we obtain a transformation of classical connections that combines the traditional gauge transformation with an affine translation.
Narasimhan and Ramadas showed that the Gribov ambiguity was maximal for the product SU(2) bundle over S^3. Specifically they showed that the holonomy group of the Coulomb connection is dense in the connected component of the identity of the gauge group. Instead of base manifold S^3, we consider here a base manifold with a boundary. In this with-boundary case we must include boundary conditions on the connection forms. We will use the so-called conductor (a.k.a Dirichlet) boundary conditions on connections. With these boundary conditions, we will first show that the space of connections is a C^…
A gauge theory is associated with a principal bundle endowed with a connection permitting to define horizontal lifts of paths. The horizontal lifts of surfaces cannot be defined into a principal bundle structure. An higher gauge theory is an attempt to generalize the bundle structure in order to describe horizontal lifts of surfaces. A such attempt is particularly difficult for the non-abelian case. Some structures have been proposed to realize this goal (twisted bundle, gerbes with connection, bundle gerbe, 2-bundle). Each of them uses a category in place of the total space manifold of the us…
For a principal bundle $P\to M$ equipped with a connection ${\bar A}$, we study an infinite dimensional bundle ${\mathcal P}^{\rm dec}_{\bar A}P$ over the space of paths on $M$, with the points of ${\mathcal P}^{\rm dec}_{\bar A}P$ being horizontal paths on $P$ decorated with elements of a second structure group. We construct parallel transport processes on such bundles and study holonomy bundles in this setting. We explain the relationship with categorical geometry and explore the notion of categorical connections on categorical principal bundles in a concrete differential geometric way.
We survey several mathematical developments in the holonomy approach to gauge theory. A cornerstone of this approach is the introduction of group structures on spaces of based loops on a smooth manifold, relying on certain homotopy equivalence relations -- such as the so-called thin homotopy -- and the resulting interpretation of gauge fields as group homomorphisms to a Lie group $G$ satisfying a suitable smoothness condition, encoding the holonomy of a gauge orbit of smooth connections on a principal $G$-bundle. We also prove several structural results on thin homotopy, and in particular we c…
A nice differential-geometric framework for (non-abelian) higher gauge theory is provided by principal 2-bundles, i.e. categorified principal bundles. Their total spaces are Lie groupoids, local trivializations are kinds of Morita equivalences, and connections are Lie-2-algebra-valued 1-forms. In this article, we construct explicitly the parallel transport of a connection on a principal 2-bundle. Parallel transport along a path is a Morita equivalence between the fibres over the end points, and parallel transport along a surface is an intertwiner between Morita equivalences. We prove that our …
A geometric interpretation of the Aharonov--Bohm effect is given in terms of connections on principal fiber bundles. It is demonstrated that the principal fiber bundle can be trivial while the connection and its holonomy group are nontrivial. Therefore, the main role is played by geometric rather than topological effects.
The theory of principal $G$-bundles over a Lie groupoid is an important one, unifying the various types of principal $G$-bundles, including those over manifolds, those over orbifolds, as well as equivariant principal $G$-bundles. In this paper, we study the differential geometry of these objects, including connections and holonomy maps. We also introduce a Chern-Weil map for these principal bundles and prove that the characteristic classes obtained coincide with the universal characteristic classes. As an application, we recover the equivariant Chern-Weil map of Bott-Tu. We also obtain an expl…
A geometric interpretation of the Berry phase and its Wilczek--Zee non-Abelian generalization are given in terms of connections on principal fiber bundles. It is demonstrated that a principal fiber bundle can be trivial in all cases, while the connection and its holonomy group are nontrivial. Therefore, the main role is played by geometric rather than topological effects.
Narasimhan and Ramadas showed that the restricted holonomy group of the Coulomb connection is dense in the connected component of the identity of the gauge group when one considers the product principal bundle $S^3 \times SU(2)\to S^3$. Instead of a base manifold S^3, we consider here a base manifold of dimension $n\ge 2$ with a boundary and use Dirichlet boundary conditions on connections as defined by Marini. A key step in the method of Narasimhan and Ramadas consisted in showing that the linear space spanned by the curvature form at one specially chosen connection is dense in the holonomy L…
We determine the holonomy of generalized Killing spinor covariant derivatives of the form $D= \nabla + Ω$ on pseudo-Riemannian reductive homogeneous spaces in a purely algebraic and algorithmic way, where $Ω: TM \rightarrow Λ^*(TM)$ is a left-invariant homomorphism. This is essentially an application of the theory of invariant principal bundle connections defined over homogeneous principal bundles. Moreover, the algorithm allows a computation of the associated Killing superalgebra in certain cases. The procedure is demonstrated by determining the supersymmetries of certain homogeneous M2 duals…
A method for determining the orbit types of the action of the group of gauge transformations on the space of connections for gauge theories with gauge group SU(n) in space-time dimension d<=4 is presented. The method is based on the 1:1-correspondence between orbit types and holonomy-induced Howe subbundles of the underlying principal SU(n)-bundle. It is shown that the orbit types are labelled by certain cohomology elements of space-time satisfying two relations. Thus, for every principal SU(n)-bundle the corresponding stratification of the gauge orbit space can be determined explicitly. As an…
A new approach extending the concept of geometric phases to adiabatic open quantum systems described by density matrices (mixed states) is proposed. This new approach is based on an analogy between open quantum systems and dissipative quantum systems which uses a $C^*$-module structure. The gauge theory associated with these new geometric phases does not take place in an usual principal bundle structure but in an higher structure, a categorical principal bundle (so-called principal 2-bundle or non-abelian bundle gerbes) which is sometimes a non-abelian twisted bundle. This higher degree in the…
We provide a general, homotopy-theoretic definition of string group models within an $\infty$-category of smooth spaces, and we present new smooth models for the string group. Here, a smooth space is a presheaf of $\infty$-groupoids on the category of cartesian spaces. The key to our definition and construction of smooth string group models is a version of the singular complex functor, which assigns to a smooth space an underlying ordinary space. We provide new characterisations of principal $\infty$-bundles and group extensions in $\infty$-topoi, building on work of Nikolaus, Schreiber, and S…
What remains of a geometrical notion like that of a principal bundle when the base space is not a manifold but a coarse graining of it, like the poset formed by a base for the topology ordered under inclusion? Motivated by finding a geometrical framework for developing gauge theories in algebraic quantum field theory, we give, in the present paper, a first answer to this question. The notions of transition function, connection form and curvature form find a nice description in terms of cohomology, in general non-Abelian, of a poset with values in a group $G$. Interpreting a 1--cocycle as a pri…
We provide a new perspective on parallel 2-transport and principal 2-group bundles with 2-connection. We define parallel 2-transport as a 2-functor from the thin fundamental 2-groupoid to the 2-category of 2-group torsors. The definition of the 2-category of 2-group torsors is new, and we develop the tools necessary for computations in this 2-category. We prove a version of the non-Abelian Stokes Theorem and the Ambrose-Singer Theorem for 2-transport. This definition motivated by the fact that principal $G$-bundles with connection are equivalent to functors from the thin fundamental groupoid t…
Geometric foundations of thermodynamics in the quantum regime
Universidad de Granada（格拉纳达大学）；Instituto Carlos I de Física Teórica y Computacional, Universidad de Granada（格拉纳达大学卡洛斯一世理论与计算物理研究所）；Universidad de Córdoba（科尔多瓦大学）
We study a quantum system in a Riemannian manifold M on which a Lie group G acts isometrically. The path integral on M is decomposed into a family of path integrals on a quotient space Q=M/G and the reduced path integrals are completely classified by irreducible unitary representations of G. It is not necessary to assume that the action of G on M is either free or transitive. Hence the quotient space M/G may have orbifold singularities. Stratification geometry, which is a generalization of the concept of principal fiber bundle, is necessarily introduced to describe the path integral on M/G. Us…
We construct Chern-Simons bundles as $\mathrm{Aut}^{+}P$-equivariant $U(1)$ -bundles with connection over the space of connections $\mathcal{A}_{P}$ on a principal $G$-bundle $P\rightarrow M$. We show that the Chern-Simons bundles are determined up to an isomorphisms by means of its equivariant holonomy. The space of equivariant holonomies is shown to coincide with the space of equivariant differential characteres of second order. Furthermore, we prove that the Chern-Simons theory provides, in a natural way, an equivariant differential character that determines the Chern-Simons bundles. Our co…
$C^\ast$-categorical prefactorization algebras for superselection sectors and topological order
Università di Genova（热那亚大学）；INFN, Sezione di Genova（意大利国家核物理研究所热那亚分部）；Max Planck Institut für Mathematik in den Naturwissenschaften（马克斯·普朗克自然 sciences 数学研究所）；Cardiff University（卡迪夫大学）；University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）
