Extension of algebroids Part I: The Construction

Abstract

In this series of two papers we will generalise the concept of extending a Lie algebroid by a Lie algebra bundle, leading to a notion of extending a Lie algebroid by another Lie algebroid whose orbits lie in the orbits of the former algebroid. The resulting Lie algebroid's anchor will be the sum of the two initial anchors such that the constructions will be similar to matched pairs of Lie algebroids, but with the key difference that we will allow a curvature. In this part of this series we will focus on the canonical construction making use of strict covariant adjustments, a generalisation of Maurer-Cartan forms in the context of gauge theories equipped with a Lie groupoid action instead of a Lie group action. That is, a Cartan connection with certain conditions on the curvature. The second paper will introduce and explain the obstruction of the extension provided here. Examples will include locally split structures as in Poisson geometry and crossed modules of Lie groupoids including an obstruction for certain crossed modules on a manifold $M$, generalising the obstruction of a Lie group structure on a manifold. As a side result we provide an obstruction theory for certain Cartan connections on Lie algebroids, which will be related to the obstruction of what we will call twisted action algebroids; generalising the statement of the action algebroid structure induced by flat Cartan connections.