Gauge theory for spectral triples and the unbounded Kasparov product

Abstract

We explore factorizations of noncommutative Riemannian spin geometries over commutative base manifolds in unbounded KK-theory. After setting up the general formalism of unbounded KK-theory and improving upon the construction of internal products, we arrive at a natural bundle-theoretic formulation of gauge theories arising from spectral triples. We find that the unitary group of a given noncommutative spectral triple arises as the group of endomorphisms of a certain Hilbert bundle; the inner fluctuations split in terms of connections on, and endomorphisms of, this Hilbert bundle. Moreover, we introduce an extended gauge group of unitary endomorphisms and a corresponding notion of gauge fields. We work out several examples in full detail, to wit Yang–Mills theory, the noncommutative torus and the $\theta$-deformed Hopf fibration over the two-sphere.