Induced differential characters on nonlinear Gra{\ss}mannians

Abstract

Using a nonlinear version of the tautological bundle over Gra{\ss}mannians, we construct a transgression map for differential characters from $M$ to the nonlinear Gra{\ss}mannians $\mathrm{Gr}^S(M)$ of submanifolds of $M$ of a fixed type $S$. In particular, we obtain prequantum circle bundles of the nonlinear Gra\ss{}mannian endowed with the Marsden-Weinstein symplectic form. The associated Kostant-Souriau prequantum extension yields central Lie group extensions of a group of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms integrating Lichnerowicz cocycles.