Dualities between Poisson brackets and antibrackets

Recently it has been shown that antibrackets may be expressed in terms of Poisson brackets and vice versa for commuting functions in the original bracket. Here we also introduce generalized brackets involving higher antibrackets or higher Poisson brackets where the latter are of a new type. We give generating functions for these brackets for functions in arbitrary involutions in the original bracket. We also give master equations for generalized Maurer-Cartan equations. The presentation is completely symmetric with respect to Poisson brackets and antibrackets.Comment: 24 pages,Latexfile,corrected (2.7-8) and removed text between (2.9) and (2.10

Cohomology of Lie superalgebras and of their generalizations

The cohomology groups of Lie superalgebras and, more generally, of color Lie algebras, are introduced and investigated. The main emphasis is on the case where the module of coefficients is non-trivial. Two general propositions are proved, which help to calculate the cohomology groups. Several examples are included to show the peculiarities of the super case. For L = sl(1|2), the cohomology groups H^1(L,V) and H^2(L,V), with V a finite-dimensional simple graded L-module, are determined, and the result is used to show that H^2(L,U(L)) (with U(L) the enveloping algebra of L) is trivial. This implies that the superalgebra U(L) does not admit of any non-trivial formal deformations (in the sense of Gerstenhaber). Garland's theory of universal central extensions of Lie algebras is generalized to the case of color Lie algebras.Comment: 50 pages, Latex, no figures. In the revised version the proof of Lemma 5.1 is greatly simplified, some references are added, and a pertinent result on sl(m|1) is announced. To appear in the Journal of Mathematical Physic

On the nature of the Virasoro algebra

The multiplication in the Virasoro algebra $$[e_p, e_q] = (p - q) e_{p+q} + \theta \left(p^3 - p\right) \delta_{p + q}, \qquad p, q \in {\mathbf Z},$$ $$[\theta, e_p] = 0,$$ comes from the commutator $[e_p, e_q] = e_p * e_q - e_q * e_p$ in a quasiassociative algebra with the multiplication \renewcommand{\theequation}{$*$} \be \ba{l} \ds e_p * e_q = - {q (1 + \epsilon q) \over 1 + \epsilon (p + q)} e_{p+q} + {1 \over 2} \theta \left[p^3 - p + \left(\epsilon - \epsilon^{-1} \right) p^2 \right] \delta^0_{p+q}, \vspace{3mm}\\ \ds e_p * \theta = \theta* e_p = 0. \ea \ee The multiplication in a quasiassociative algebra ${\cal R}$ satisfies the property \renewcommand{\theequation}{$**$} \be a * (b * c) - (a * b) * c = b * (a * c) - (b * a) * c, \qquad a, b, c \in {\cal R}. \ee This property is necessary and sufficient for the Lie algebra {\it Lie}$({\cal R})$ to have a phase space. The above formulae are put into a cohomological framework, with the relevant complex being different from the Hochschild one even when the relevant quasiassociative algebra ${\cal R}$ becomes associative. Formula $(*)$ above also has a differential-variational counterpart

Multiple Hamiltonian structure of Bogoyavlensky-Toda lattices

This paper is mainly a review of the multi--Hamiltonian nature of Toda and generalized Toda lattices corresponding to the classical simple Lie groups but it includes also some new results. The areas investigated include master symmetries, recursion operators, higher Poisson brackets, invariants and group symmetries for the systems. In addition to the positive hierarchy we also consider the negative hierarchy which is crucial in establishing the bi--Hamiltonian structure for each particular simple Lie group. Finally, we include some results on point and Noether symmetries and an interesting connection with the exponents of simple Lie groups. The case of exceptional simple Lie groups is still an open problem.Comment: 65 pages, 67 reference

Lagrange structure and quantization

A path-integral quantization method is proposed for dynamical systems whose classical equations of motion do \textit{not} necessarily follow from the action principle. The key new notion behind this quantization scheme is the Lagrange structure which is more general than the Lagrangian formalism in the same sense as Poisson geometry is more general than the symplectic one. The Lagrange structure is shown to admit a natural BRST description which is used to construct an AKSZ-type topological sigma-model. The dynamics of this sigma-model in $d+1$ dimensions, being localized on the boundary, are proved to be equivalent to the original theory in $d$ dimensions. As the topological sigma-model has a well defined action, it is path-integral quantized in the usual way that results in quantization of the original (not necessarily Lagrangian) theory. When the original equations of motion come from the action principle, the standard BV path-integral is explicitly deduced from the proposed quantization scheme. The general quantization scheme is exemplified by several models including the ones whose classical dynamics are not variational.Comment: Minor corrections, format changed, 40 page

Linear connections on matrix geometries

A general definition of a linear connection in noncommutative geometry has been recently proposed. Two examples are given of linear connections in noncommutative geometries which are based on matrix algebras. They both possess a unique metric connection.Comment: 14p, LPTHE-ORSAY 94/9

Nambu-Poisson manifolds and associated n-ary Lie algebroids

We introduce an n-ary Lie algebroid canonically associated with a Nambu-Poisson manifold. We also prove that every Nambu-Poisson bracket defined on functions is induced by some differential operator on the exterior algebra, and characterize such operators. Some physical examples are presented

Super-Poincare' algebras, space-times and supergravities (I)

A new formulation of theories of supergravity as theories satisfying a generalized Principle of General Covariance is given. It is a generalization of the superspace formulation of simple 4D-supergravity of Wess and Zumino and it is designed to obtain geometric descriptions for the supergravities that correspond to the super Poincare' algebras of Alekseevsky and Cortes' classification.Comment: 29 pages, v2: minor improvements at the end of Section 5.

Linear Connections on Fuzzy Manifolds

Linear connections are introduced on a series of noncommutative geometries which have commutative limits. Quasicommutative corrections are calculated.Comment: 10 pages PlainTex; LPTHE Orsay 95/42; ESI Vienna 23

Module parallel transports in fuzzy gauge theory

In this article we define and investigate a notion of parallel transport on finite projective modules over finite matrix algebras. Given a derivation-based differential calculus on the algebra and a connection on the module, we construct for every derivation X a module parallel transport, which is a lift to the module of the one-parameter group of algebra automorphisms generated by X. This parallel transport morphism is determined uniquely by an ordinary differential equation depending on the covariant derivative along X. Based on these parallel transport morphisms, we define a basic set of gauge invariant observables, i.e. functions from the space of connections to the complex numbers. For modules equipped with a hermitian structure, we prove that this set of observables is separating on the space of gauge equivalence classes of hermitian connections. This solves the gauge copy problem for fuzzy gauge theories.Comment: 9 pages, no figures; v2: references added; v3: improved, corrected and extended version, title changed, to appear on International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physic