Gauged sigma-models with nonclosed 3-form and twisted Jacobi structures

A bstract We study aspects of two-dimensional nonlinear sigma models with Wess-Zumino term corresponding to a nonclosed 3-form, which may arise upon dimensional reduction in the target space. Our goal in this paper is twofold. In a first part, we investigate the conditions for consistent gauging of sigma models in the presence of a nonclosed 3-form. In the Abelian case, we find that the target of the gauged theory has the structure of a contact Courant algebroid, twisted by a 3-form and two 2-forms. Gauge invariance constrains the theory to (small) Dirac structures of the contact Courant algebroid. In the non-Abelian case, we draw a similar parallel between the gauged sigma model and certain transitive Courant algebroids and their corresponding Dirac structures. In the second part of the paper, we study two-dimensional sigma models related to Jacobi structures. The latter generalise Poisson and contact geometry in the presence of an additional vector field. We demonstrate that one can construct a sigma model whose gauge symmetry is controlled by a Jacobi structure, and moreover we twist the model by a 3-form. This construction is then the analogue of WZW-Poisson structures for Jacobi manifolds.