Differential cocycles and Dixmier–Douady bundles

Abstract

This paper exhibits equivalences of 2-stacks between certain models of $\mathbb{S}^1$-gerbes and differential 3-cocycles. We focus primarily on the model of Dixmier-Douady bundles, and provide an equivalence between the 2-stack of Dixmier-Douady bundles and the 2-stack of differential 3-cocycles of height 1, where the 'height' is related to the presence of connective structure. Differential 3-cocycles of height 2 (resp. height 3) are shown to be equivalent to $\mathbb{S}^1$-bundle gerbes with connection (resp. with connection and curving). These equivalences extend to the equivariant setting of $\mathbb{S}^1$-gerbes over Lie groupoids.