B fields from a Luddite perspective

TL;DR

This paper explores a geometric framework for B fields and higher p-form potentials as connections on affine bundles, providing insights into D branes and the Chern-Simons modification of B field strength.

Contribution

It introduces a geometric realization of B fields as affine bundle connections and explains D branes and Chern-Simons modifications within this framework.

Findings

B fields modeled as affine bundle connections

D branes as submanifolds of affine bundles

Geometric explanation for Chern-Simons modification

Abstract

In this talk we discuss the geometric realization of B fields and higher p-form potentials on a manifold M as connections on affine bundles over M. We realize D branes on M as special submanifolds of these affine bundles. As an application of this geometric understanding of the B field, we give a simple geometric explanation for the Chern-Simons modification of the field strength of the B field.