Pre-Courant algebroids

Pre-Courant algebroids are ‘Courant algebroids’ without the Jacobi identity for the Courant–Dorfman bracket. We examine the corresponding supermanifold description of pre-Courant algebroids and some direct consequences thereof. In particular, we define symplectic almost Lie 2-algebroids and show how they correspond to pre-Courant algebroids. We give the definition of (sub-)Dirac structures and study the naïve quasi-cochain complex within the setting of supergeometry. Moreover, the framework of supermanifolds allows us to economically define and work with pre-Courant algebroids equipped with a compatible non-negative grading. VB-Courant algebroids are natural examples of what we call weighted pre-Courant algebroids and our approach drastically simplifies working with them.