Fat Manifolds And Linear Connections

The theory of connections is central not only in pure mathematics (differential and algebraic geometry), but also in mathematical and theoretical physics (general relativity, gauge fields, mechanics of continuum media). The now-standard approach to this subject was proposed by Ch. Ehresmann 60 years ago, attracting first mathematicians and later physicists by its transparent geometrical simplicity. Unfortunately, it does not extend well to a number of recently emerged situations of significant i