A Groupoid Approach to the Riemann Integral (and Path Integral Quantization of the Poisson Sigma Model)

Abstract

We use groupoids and the van Est map to define Riemann sums on compact manifolds (with boundary), in a coordinate-free way. These Riemann sums converge to the usual integral after taking a limit over all triangulations of the manifold. We show that the van Est map determines the n-jet of antisymmetric n-cochains. We discuss using this Riemann sum construction to put the Poisson sigma model on a lattice.