Twisted differential cohomology

Abstract

The main goal of the present paper is the construction of twisted generalized differential cohomology theories and the comprehensive statement of its basic functorial properties. Technically it combines the homotopy theoretic approach to (untwisted) generalized differential cohomology developed by Hopkins-Singer and later by the first author and D. Gepner with the oo-categorical treatement of twisted cohomology by Ando-Blumberg-Gepner. We introduce the notion of a differential twist for a given generalized cohomology theory and construct twisted differential cohomology groups (resp. spectra). The main technical results of the paper are existence and uniqueness statements for differential twists. These results will be applied in a variety of examples, including K-theory, topological modular forms and other cohomology theories.