On the existence of bibundles

Abstract

We consider the existence of bibundles, in other words locally trivial principal $G$ spaces with commuting left and right $G$ actions. We show that their existence is closely related to the structure of the group $\Out(G)$ of outer automorphisms of $G$. We also develop a classifying theory for bibundles. The theory is developed in full generality for $(H, G)$ bibundles for a crossed-module $(H, G)$ and we show with examples the close links with loop group bundles.

This version accepted to appear in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. Various changes made at referee's suggestion