The geometry of graded cotangent bundles

Abstract: Given a vector bundle $A\to M$ we study the geometry of the graded manifolds $T^*[k]A[1]$, including their canonical symplectic structures, compatible Q-structures and Lagrangian Q-submanifolds. We relate these graded objects to classical structures, such as higher Courant algebroids on $A\oplus\bigwedge^{k-1}A^*$ and higher Dirac structures therein, semi-direct products of Lie algebroid structures on $A$ with their coadjoint representations up to homotopy, and branes on certain AKSZ $\sigma$-models.