Stratification of the Generalized Gauge Orbit Space

Different versions for defining Ashtekar's generalized connections are investigated depending on the chosen smoothness category for the paths and graphs – the label set for the projective limit. Our definition covers the analytic case as well as the case of webs. Then the action of Ashtekar's generalized gauge group on the space of generalized connections is investigated for compact structure groups G. Here, first, the orbit types of the generalized connections are determined. The stabilizer of a connection is homeomorphic to the holonomy centralizer, i.e. the centralizer of its holonomy group. It is proven that the gauge orbit type of a connection can be defined by the G-conjugacy class of its holonomy centralizer equivalently to the standard definition via -stabilizers. The connections of one and the same gauge orbit type form a so-called stratum. As the main result of this article a slice theorem is proven on . This yields the openness of the strata. Afterwards, a denseness theorem is proven for the strata. Hence, is topologically regularly stratified by . These results coincide with those of Kondracki and Rogulski for Sobolev connections. Furthermore, the set of all gauge orbit types equals the set of all (conjugacy classes of) Howe subgroups of G. Finally, it is shown that the set of all gauge orbits with maximal type has the full induced Haar measure 1. Received: 12 January 2000 / Accepted: 8 May 2000