Vector bundle valued differential forms on ℕQ-manifolds

Abstract

Geometric structures on $\mathbb N Q$-manifolds, i.e.~non-negatively graded manifolds with an homological vector field, encode non-graded geometric data on Lie algebroids and their higher analogues. A particularly relevant class of structures consists of vector bundle valued differential forms. Symplectic forms, contact structures and, more generally, distributions are in this class. We describe vector bundle valued differential forms on non-negatively graded manifolds in terms of non-graded geometric data. Moreover, we use this description to present, in a unified way, novel proofs of known results, and new results about degree one $\mathbb N Q$-manifolds equipped with certain geometric structures, namely symplectic structures, contact structures, involutive distributions (already present in literature) and locally conformal symplectic structures, and generic vector bundle valued higher order forms, in particular presymplectic and multisymplectic structures (not yet present in literature).