Stratification of the Generalized Gauge Orbit Space

Abstract

The action of Ashtekar's generalized gauge group $\Gb$ on the space $\Ab$ of generalized connections is investigated for compact structure groups $\LG$. First a stratum is defined to be the set of all connections of one and the same gauge orbit type, i.e. the conjugacy class of the centralizer of the holonomy group. Then a slice theorem is proven on $\Ab$. This yields the openness of the strata. Afterwards, a denseness theorem is proven for the strata. Hence, $\Ab$ is topologically regularly stratified by $\Gb$. These results coincide with those of Kondracki and Rogulski for Sobolev connections. As a by-product, we prove that the set of all gauge orbit types equals the set of all (conjugacy classes of) Howe subgroups of $\LG$. Finally, we show that the set of all gauge orbits with maximal type has the full induced Haar measure 1.