Higher Structures: gerbes and Nijenhuis forms

Abstract

In the first chapter, we give a precise and general description of gerbes valued in arbitrary crossed module and over an arbitrary differential stack. We do it using only Lie groupoids, hence ordinary differential geometry, by considering differential stacks as being Lie groupoids up to Morita equivalence. We prove the coincidence with the existing notions by comparing our construction with non-Abelian cohomology. More precisely, we introduce the key notion of extension of Lie groupoids valued in a crossed-module. We relate it with Dedecker's non-Abelian 1-cocycles, and we then show that Morita equivalence amounts to co-boundaries, paving the way for a general definition of gerbes valued in a crossed-module over a differential stack. In the second chapter, we develop the theory of Nijenhuis forms on L-infinity-algebras. First, we recall a convenient notion of Richardson-Nijenhuis bracket on the graded symmetric vector valued forms on a graded vector space, bracket for which L-infinity-algebras are simply Poisson elements. Weak Nijenhuis vector valued forms for a given L-infinity-algebra are defined to be forms of degree 0 deforming (i.e. taking bracket) that Poisson element into an other Poisson element. Nijenhuis forms are those forms N for which deforming twice by N is like deforming once by a form K called the square of N. We obtain in this context an infnite hierarchy of L-infinity-algebras. classifcation of Nijenhuis forms on anchor-free Lie 2-algebras can be completed. We also show that there is, under adequate conditions, a one to one correspondence between the Nijenhuis vector valued forms N with respect to the Lie 2-algebra associated to a Courant algebroid and Nijenhuis C-infinity-linear maps on the Courant algebroid itself. We give examples of Nijenhuis vector valued forms on the Lie n-algebras associated to n-plectic manifolds.