Principal infty -bundles and smooth string group models

Abstract

We provide a general, homotopy-theoretic definition of string group models within an infty -category of smooth spaces and present new smooth models for the string group. Here, a smooth space is a presheaf of infty -groupoids on the category of cartesian spaces. The key to our definition and construction of smooth string group models is a version of the singular complex functor, which assigns to a smooth space an underlying ordinary space. We provide new characterisations of principal infty -bundles and group extensions in infty -topoi, building on work of Nikolaus, Schreiber and Stevenson. These insights allow us to transfer the definition of string group extensions from the infty -category of spaces to the infty -category of smooth spaces. Finally, we consider smooth higher-categorical group extensions that arise as obstructions to the existence of equivariant structures on gerbes. These extensions give rise to new smooth models for the string group, as recently conjectured in joint work with Müller and Szabo.