Massey products in differential cohomology via stacks

TL;DR

This paper extends Massey products to differential cohomology using stacks, providing a unified framework that connects classical cohomology theories and facilitates applications in geometry and physics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to defining Massey products in differential cohomology via stacks, generalizing previous constructions and enabling new computations.

Findings

Unified framework for Massey products in differential cohomology

Connections established between classical and differential cohomology theories

Examples demonstrating applications in geometry and physics

Abstract

We extend Massey products from cohomology to differential cohomology via stacks, organizing and generalizing existing constructions in Deligne cohomology. We study the properties and show how they are related to more classical Massey products in de Rham, singular, and Deligne cohomology. The setting and the algebraic machinery via stacks allow for computations and make the construction well-suited for applications. We illustrate with several examples from differential geometry and mathematical physics.