Characteristic classes associated to Q-bundles

A Q-manifold is a graded manifold endowed with a vector field of degree 1 squaring to zero. We consider the notion of a Q-bundle, that is, a fiber bundle in the category of Q-manifolds. To each homotopy class of "gauge fields" (sections in the category of graded manifolds) and each cohomology class of a certain subcomplex of forms on the fiber we associate a cohomology class on the base. As any principal bundle yields canonically a Q-bundle, this construction generalizes Chern–Weil classes. Novel examples include cohomology classes that are locally de Rham differential of the integrands of topological sigma models obtained by the AKSZ-formalism in arbitrary dimensions. For Hamiltonian Poisson fibrations one obtains a characteristic 3-class in this manner. We also relate the framework to equivariant cohomology and Lecomte's characteristic classes of exact sequences of Lie algebras.