A 2-group construction from an extension of the 3-loop group $\Omega^3G$

Abstract

We define a 3-loop group $\Omega^3G$ as a subgroup of smooth maps from a 3-ball to a Lie group $G$, and then construct a 2-group based on an automorphic action on the Mickelsson-Faddeev extension of $\Omega^3G$. In this we follow the strategy of Murray et al., who earlier described a similar construction in one dimension. The three-dimensional situation presented here is further complicated by the fact that the 3-loop group extension is not central.