Abstract

We express any Courant algebroid bracket by means of a metric connection, and construct a Courant algebroid structure on any orthogonal, Whitney sum E⊕C where E is a given Courant algebroid and C is a flat, pseudo-Euclidean vector bundle. Then, we establish the general expression of the bracket of a transitive Courant algebroid, that is, a Courant algebroid with a surjective anchor, and describe a class of transitive Courant algebroids which are Whitney sums of a Courant subalgebroid with neutral metric and Courant-like bracket and a pseudo-Euclidean vector bundle with a flat, metric connection. In particular, this class contains all the transitive Courant algebroids of minimal rank; for these, the flat term mentioned above is zero. The results extend to regular Courant algebroids, that is, Courant algebroids with a constant rank anchor. The paper ends with miscellaneous remarks and an appendix on Dirac linear spaces.