A new kind of geometric phases in open quantum systems and higher gauge theory

Abstract: A new approach extending the concept of geometric phases to adiabatic open quantum systems described by density matrices (mixed states) is proposed. This new approach is based on an analogy between open quantum systems and dissipative quantum systems which uses a $C^*$-module structure. The gauge theory associated with these new geometric phases does not take place in an usual principal bundle structure but in an higher structure, a categorical principal bundle (so-called principal 2-bundle or non-abelian bundle gerbes) which is sometimes a non-abelian twisted bundle. This higher degree in the gauge theory is a geometrical manifestation of the decoherence induced by the environment on the quantum system.