Noncommutative gauge theories from deformation quantization

We construct noncommutative gauge theories based on the notion of the Weyl bundle, which appears in Fedosov's construction of deformation quantization on an arbitrary symplectic manifold. These correspond to D-brane worldvolume theories in non-constant B-field and curved backgrounds in string theory. All such theories are embedded into a "universal" gauge theory of the Weyl bundle. This shows that the combination of a background field and a noncommutative field strength has universal meaning as a field strength of the Weyl bundle. We also show that the gauge equivalence relation is a part of such a "universal" gauge symmetry. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.