A group is an algebraic system that characterizes symmetry. As a generalization of the concept of a group, semigroups and various non-associative groupoids can be considered as algebraic abstractions of generalized symmetry.

This book examines the differential geometry of manifolds, loop spaces, line bundles and groupoids, and the relations of this geometry to mathematical physics. Applications presented in the book involve anomaly line bundles on loop spaces and anomaly functionals, central extensions of loop groups, Kähler geometry of the space of knots, and Cheeger--Chern--Simons secondary characteristics classes. It also covers the Dirac monopole and Dirac’s quantization of the electrical charge.