A \(C^*\)-algebra of geometric operators on self-similar CW-complexes. Novikov-Shubin and \(L^2\)-Betti numbers (Q1000527)

The authors introduce a class of non-compact (but locally finite) CW-complexes \(X\), which they call self-similar CW-complexes. They can be thought of as the union of a nested sequence of finite subcomplexes \(X_n\), where each subcomplex \(X_n\) is the union of isomorphic copies of the previous subcomplex \(X_{n-1}\) in a controlled way. Moreover, they are required to be amenable in the sense that the boundary of \(X_n\) becomes negligable compared to \(X_n\) with \(n\to \infty\). The authors now look at the \(l^2\)-chain groups of such CW-complexes and define \(C^*\)-algebras of finite propagation operators which are compatible with the self-similar structure acting on them. These algebras include, in particular, the combinatorial Laplacians. Using a limiting procedure via compression to the \(l^2\)-chains of the subcomplexes \(X_n\), these algebras are shown to be endowed with a finite trace. The trace is then used to define \(L^2\)-Betti numbers and Novikov-Shubin invariants via the heat kernel of the combinatorial Laplacians. The authors show that the alternating sum of the \(L^2\)-Betti numbers equals the limit of the normalized Euler characteristics of the \(X_n\). The paper is concluded with explicit calculations for certain low-dimensional examples. These examples are related to fractals and, in some cases, the Novikov-Shubin invariants are shown to be related to the Hausdorff dimension of the fractal.