Generalisations of geometry have emerged in various forms in the study of field theory and quantization. This mini-review focuses on the role of higher geometry in three selected physical applications. After motivating and describing some basic aspects of algebroid structures on bundles and (differential graded) Q-manifolds, we briefly discuss their relation to ($α$) the Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization of topological sigma models, ($β$) higher gauge theories and generalized global symmetries and ($γ$) tensor gauge theories, where the universality of their form and properties in terms of graded geometry is highlighted.
In string theory, higher rank antisymmetric tensor fields appear as massless excitations of closed strings. Till date there is no experimental support in favour of their existence. In a stringy framework, starting from a warped throat-like Klebanov-Strassler geometry, we show that all the massless higher rank antisymmetric tensor fields are heavily suppressed due to the background fluxes leading to their invisibility in our Universe.
We clarify relations between the higher dimensional quantum Hall effect and A-class topological insulator. In particular, we elucidate physical implications of the higher dimensional non-commutative geometry in the context of A-class topological insulator. This presentation is based on arXiv:1403.5066.
We study systematically the conformal geometry of higher spin bosonic gauge fields in three spacetime dimensions. We recall the definition of the Cotton tensor for higher spins and establish a number of its properties that turn out to be key in solving in terms of prepotentials the constraint equations of the Hamiltonian (3 + 1) formulation of four-dimensional higher spin gauge fields. The prepotentials are shown to exhibit higher spin conformal symmetry. Just as for spins 1 and 2, they provide a remarkably simple, manifestly duality invariant formulation of the theory. While the higher spin c…
One of the most celebrated works of Professor Madore is the introduction of fuzzy sphere. I briefly review how the fuzzy two-sphere and its higher dimensional cousins are realized in the (spherical) Landau models in non-Abelian monopole backgrounds. For extracting quantum geometry from the Landau models, we evaluate the matrix elements of the coordinates of spheres in the lowest and higher Landau levels. For the lowest Landau level, the matrix geometry is identified as the geometry of fuzzy sphere. Meanwhile for the higher Landau levels, the obtained quantum geometry turns out to be a nested m…
We introduce prepotentials for fermionic higher-spin gauge fields in four spacetime dimensions, generalizing earlier work on bosonic fields. To that end, we first develop tools for handling conformal fermionic higher-spin gauge fields in three dimensions. This is necessary because the prepotentials turn out to be three-dimensional fields that enjoy both "higher-spin diffeomorphism" and "higher-spin Weyl" gauge symmetries. We discuss a number of the key properties of the relevant Cotton tensors. The reformulation of the equations of motion as "twisted self-duality conditions" is then exhibited.…
Higher Spin Gravity refers to extensions of gravity including at least one field of spin greater than two. These extensions are expected to provide manageable models of quantum gravity thanks to the infinite-dimensional (higher spin) gauge symmetry constraining them. One of the key aspects of Higher Spin Gravity/Symmetry is the range and diversity of topics it embraces: (a) higher spin fields play a role in quantum gravity, AdS/CFT, string theory and are expected to have important consequences in cosmology and black hole physics; (b) higher spin symmetry finds applications in Conformal Field T…
In this short paper, we will review the proposal of a correspondence between the doubled geometry of Double Field Theory and the higher geometry of bundle gerbes. Double Field Theory is T-duality covariant formulation of the supergravity limit of String Theory, which generalises Kaluza-Klein theory by unifying metric and Kalb-Ramond field on a doubled-dimensional space. In light of the proposed correspondence, this doubled geometry is interpreted as an atlas description of the higher geometry of bundle gerbes. In this sense, Double Field Theory can be interpreted as a field theory living on th…
According to our microscopic cosmological model, masses of charged leptons can be calculated by curvatures of hyper-spherical surfaces embedded in a 3D time-like subspace. In this study, a higher-dimensional Lagrangian representation is applied to the bi-cylindrical dynamical geometry. A four-component scalar field is assumed to serve as the gauge transformers in the linearly factorized 4D space-time for inducing lepton mass. The consistency of the general relativity approach with quantum field theories is discussed.
We study the information-geometric properties of the Deser-Sarioglu-Tekin black hole, which is a higher derivative gravity solution with contributions from a non-polynomial term of the Weyl tensor to the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian. Our investigation is focused on deriving the relevant information metrics and their scalar curvatures on the space of equilibrium states. The analysis is conducted within the framework of thermodynamic information geometry and shows highly non-trivial statistical behavior. Furthermore, the quasilocal formalism, developed by Brown and York, was successfully implemen…
We investigate topological T-duality in the framework of non-abelian gerbes and higher gauge groups. We show that this framework admits the gluing of locally defined T-duals, in situations where no globally defined ("geometric") T-duals exists. The gluing results into new, higher-geometrical objects that can be used to study non-geometric T-duals, alternatively to other approaches like non-commutative geometry.
By Liouville's theorem, in dimensions 3 or more conformal transformations form a finite-dimensional group, an apparent drastic departure from the 2-dimensional case. We propose a derived enhancement of the conformal Lie algebra which is an infinite-dimensional dg-Lie algebra incorporating not only symmetries but also deformations of the conformal structure. Our approach is based on (derived) deformation theory of the ambitwistor space of complex null-geodesics.
The Bianchi identities for bosonic fluxes in supergravity can receive higher derivative quantum and string corrections, the most well known being that of Heterotic theory $d H = \tfrac{1}{4}α'(\text{tr } F^2 - \text{tr } R^2)$. Less studied are the modifications at order $R^4$ that may arise, for example, in the Bianchi identity for the seven-form flux of M theory compactifications. We argue that such corrections appear to be incompatible with the exceptional generalised geometry description of the lower order supergravity, and seem to imply a gauge algebra for the bosonic potentials that cann…
We establish several relationships between the non-relativistic conformal symmetries of Newton-Cartan geometry and the Schrödinger equation. In particular we discuss the algebra $\mathfrak{sch}(d)$ of vector fields conformally-preserving a flat Newton-Cartan spacetime, and we prove that its curved generalisation generates the symmetry group of the covariant Schrödinger equation coupled to a Newtonian potential and generalised Coriolis force. We provide intrinsic Newton-Cartan definitions of Killing tensors and conformal Schrödinger-Killing tensors, and we discuss their respective links to cons…
We develop a manifestly conformal approach to describe linearised (super)conformal higher-spin gauge theories in arbitrary conformally flat backgrounds in three and four spacetime dimensions. Closed-form expressions in terms of gauge prepotentials are given for gauge-invariant higher-spin (super) Cotton and (super) Weyl tensors in three and four dimensions, respectively. The higher-spin (super) Weyl tensors are shown to be conformal primary (super)fields in arbitrary conformal (super)gravity backgrounds, however they are gauge invariant only if the background (super) Weyl tensor vanishes. The …
We promote geometric prequantization to higher geometry (higher stacks), where a prequantization is given by a higher principal connection (a higher gerbe with connection). We show fairly generally how there is canonically a tower of higher gauge groupoids and Courant groupoids assigned to a higher prequantization, and establish the corresponding Atiyah sequence as an integrated Kostant-Souriau infinity-group extension of higher Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms by higher quantomorphisms. We also exhibit the infinity-group cocycle which classifies this extension and discuss how its restrictions a…
