On weak Lie 2-algebras

Abstract

A Lie 2-algebra is a linear category equipped with a functorial bilinear operation satisfying skew-symmetry and Jacobi identity up to natural transformations which themselves obey coherence laws of their own. Functors and natural transformations between Lie 2-algebras can also be defined, yielding a 2-category. Passing to the normalized chain complex gives an equivalence of 2-categories between Lie 2-algebras and 2-term "homotopy everything" Lie algebras; for strictly skew-symmetric Lie 2-algebras, these reduce to $L_{\infty }$-algebras, by a result of Baez and Crans. Lie 2-algebras appear naturally as infinitesimal symmetries of solutions of the Maurer--Cartan equation in some differential graded Lie algebras and $L_{\infty }$-algebras. In particular, (quasi-) Poisson manifolds, (quasi-) Lie bialgebroids and Courant algebroids provide large classes of examples.

Based on my talk at the Bialowieza workshop, July 2007