Differential Graded Algebras

Abstract

This chapter investigates differential graded algebras. Throughout the chapter, G will be a Lie group with Lie algebra g. On a manifold M, the de Rham complex is a differential graded algebra, a graded algebra that is also a differential complex. If the Lie group G acts smoothly on M, then the de Rham complex Ω‎(M) is more than a differential graded algebra. It has in addition two actions of the Lie algebra: interior multiplication and the Lie derivative. A differential graded algebra Ω‎ with an interior multiplication and a Lie derivative satisfying Cartan's homotopy formula is called a g-differential graded algebra. To construct an algebraic model for equivariant cohomology, the chapter first constructs an algebraic model for the total space EG of the universal G-bundle. It is a g-differential graded algebra called the Weil algebra.