TITLE: Relation between the Hochschild cohomology of group algebras and groupoids
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: Is there a known relation between the Hochschild cohomology of group algebras and cohomology of groupoids? 
Clarification: It is known that 1-dimensional Hochschild cohomology of the Group algebra C[G] is isomorphic to so-called external derivations of C[G].
On the other hand, it is known that the space of derivations can be identified with so-called characters on a groupoid aG of adjoint actions of the group G.
Therefore 1-dimensional Hochschild cohomology can be identified with 1-dimensional cohomology of the Cayley complex of the groupoid aG in the case when the group G is a finite presented group. I would like to know if a similar identification is known for the Hochschild cohomologies of higher dimensions

REPLY [3 votes]: For every $\mathbb{Z}G$-bimodule $M$ there exists a $G$-module $U(M)$ such that the Hochschild cohomology of $\mathbb{Z}G$ with coefficients in $M$ is naturally isomorphic to the group cohomology of $G$ with coefficients in $U(M)$. 
To see this observe that there is an adjunction between $G$-modules and $\mathbb{Z}G$-bimodules defined as follows: the right adjoint 
$$U: \mathbb{Z}G-{\rm BiMod} \to G-{\rm Mod}$$ 
sends a $\mathbb{Z}G$-bimodule $M$ to the $G$-module $M$ with the action given by $(g,m) \mapsto gmg^{-1}$, and the left adjoint $L: G-{\rm Mod} \to \mathbb{Z}G-{\rm BiMod}$ sends a $G$-module $M$ to the $\mathbb{Z}G$-bimodule $$L(M) := M \otimes \mathbb{Z}G = \oplus_{g \in G}M\left<g\right>$$ 
where the right action is given by $(\sum_g m_g\left<g\right>,h) \mapsto \sum_g m_g\left<gh\right>$ and the left action is given by $(h,\sum_g m_g\left<g\right>) \mapsto \sum_gh(m_g)\left<hg\right>$. It then follows from general categorical considerations that for every $\mathbb{Z}G$-bimodule $M$ there is a natural isomorphism
$$ {\rm HH}^n(\mathbb{Z}G,M) = {\rm Ext}_{\mathbb{Z} G-{\rm BiMod}}(\mathbb{Z}G,M) = {\rm Ext}_{\mathbb{Z} G-{\rm BiMod}}(L(\mathbb{Z}),M) \cong $$ $$ {\rm Ext}_{G-{\rm Mod}}(\mathbb{Z},U(M)) = {\rm H}^n(G,U(M)). $$
In particular, the Hochschild cohomology ${\rm HH}^n(\mathbb{Z}G) := {\rm HH}^n(\mathbb{Z}G,\mathbb{Z}G)$ is naturally isomorphic to the group cohomology of $G$ with coefficients in the $G$-module $\mathbb{Z}G$ equipped with the conjugation action. 
When $G$ is finite the group cohomology $H^n(G, \mathbb{Z}G)$ is isomorphic to the cohomology $H^n(aG,\mathbb{Z})$ of the adjoint groupoid $aG$, and so the connection that you state holds in higher dimensions. I'm not sure what happens when $G$ is infinite.
Remark (of a somewhat unrelated nature):
The connection above comes from interpreting the group cohomology of $G$ as the Quillen cohomology of the ($\infty$-)-groupoid ${\bf B}G$ and the Hochschild cohomology of $\mathbb{Z}G$ as the Quillen cohomology the dg-category ${\bf B}(\mathbb{Z}G)$. The connection then arises from the natural adjunction between $\infty$-groupoids and dg-categories.