Deligne Cohomology for Orbifolds, discrete torsion and B-fields

In this paper we introduce the concept of Deligne cohomology of an orbifold. We prove that the third Deligne cohomology group of a smooth \'{e}tale groupoid classify gerbes with connection over the groupoid. We argue that the $B$-field and the discrete torsion in type II superstring theories are special kinds of gerbes with connection, and finally, for each one of them, using Deligne cohomology we construct a flat line bundle over the inertia groupoid, namely a Ruan inner local in the case of an orbifold.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of the Summer School "Geometric and Topological methods for Quantum Field Theory", Villa de Leyva, Colombia (2001

An Introduction to Gerbes on Orbifolds

This paper is a gentle introduction to some recent results involving the theory of gerbes over orbifolds for topologists, geometers and physicists. We introduce gerbes on manifolds, orbifolds, the Dixmier-Douady class, Beilinson-Deligne orbifold cohomology, Cheeger-Simons orbifold cohomology and string connections.Comment: To appear in the Annales Mathematiques Blaise Pasca

Holonomy for Gerbes over Orbifolds

In this paper we compute explicit formulas for the holonomy map for a gerbe with connection over an orbifold. We show that the holonomy descends to a transgression map in Deligne cohomology. We prove that this recovers both the inner local systems in Ruan's theory of twisted orbifold cohomology and the local system of Freed-Hopkins-Teleman in their work in twisted K-theory. In the case in which the orbifold is simply a manifold we recover previous results of Gawedzki and Brylinski.Comment: 36 page