Graded jet geometry

Abstract

Jet manifolds and vector bundles allow one to employ tools of differential geometry to study differential equations, for example those arising as equations of motions in physics. They are necessary for a geometrical formulation of Lagrangian mechanics and the calculus of variations. It is thus only natural to require their generalization in geometry of Z-graded manifolds and vector bundles.Our aim is to construct the k-th order jet bundle JEk of an arbitrary Z-graded vector bundle E over an arbitrary Z-graded manifold M. We do so by directly constructing its sheaf of sections, which allows one to quickly prove all its usual properties. It turns out that it is convenient to start with the construction of the graded vector bundle of k-th order (linear) differential operators DEk on E. In the process, we discuss (principal) symbol maps and a subclass of differential operators whose symbols correspond to completely symmetric k-vector fields, thus finding a graded version of Atiyah Lie algebroid. Necessary rudiments of geometry of Z-graded vector bundles over Z-graded manifolds are recalled.