Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras from Ševera bicomplexes
A Ševera bicomplex is a bicomplex $(M,d_{0},d_{1})$ whose differentials $d_{i}$ are Grothendieck differential operators of order $\leq i$ with respect to a given $A$-module structure on $M$, where $A$ is a graded commutative algebra. One also requires that $(M,d_{0})$ admits a contracting homotopy $K$ that is a differential operator of the same order as $d_{0}$. Under suitable assumptions, the differential $d_{2}$ of the second page of the spectral sequence associated with $(M,d_{0},d_{1})$ is a Batalin-Vilkovisky operator on $E_{2}$, so that when $E_{2}$ is a free rank 1 $A$-module, the graded commutative algebra structure of $A$ is enhanced to a Gerstenhaber algebra structure, and the choice of a $d_{2}$-closed basis element for $E_{2}$ further enhances this to a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra structure. The prototypical example of this construction is Ševera's description of the Batalin--Vilkovisky algebra structure on the algebra of smooth functions of an odd symplectic manifold. Throughout the whole article we look at Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras through the lenses of Cartan calculus. Indications of a generalization to derived Cartan calculus are briefly discussed in the concluding section.