Cutting and pasting and the \(\eta\)-invariant (Q1173822)

Let \(M\) be an oriented Riemannian 3-manifold and \(F\subset M\) an oriented surface. Given an isometry \(\varphi: F\to F\), a new Riemannian manifold \(M^ \varphi\) is obtained by cutting \(M\) along \(F\) and regluing via \(\varphi\). This process is called geometric cutting and pasting. The main result shows how it affects the \(\eta\)-invariant: the difference between \(\eta(M^ \varphi)\) and \(\eta(M)\) is the sum of two terms of which one is made up from the fixed point data of \(\varphi\) on \(F\) and the other is the signature of a certain quadratic form associated to the topology of the triple \((M,F,\varphi)\). As a consequence, the \(\eta\)-invariant changes by a rational number under geometric cutting and pasting. There are applications to explicit examples which show that each rational number is the Chern-Simons invariant of a compact hyperbolic 3-manifold.