A general Fredholm theory. III: Fredholm functors and polyfolds (Q1022520)

The paper under review is the third in a series of papers devoted to a generalized Fredholm theory. In Part I [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 9, No.~4, 841--876 (2007; Zbl 1149.53053)], the authors develop the splicing-based differential geometry. By using new local models, the recipe for defining manifolds produces so-called \(M\)-polyfolds. Modifying the approach to orbifolds based on étale proper Lie groupoids and replacing them by ep-groupoids and polyfolds, the authors generalize the Fredholm theory, which for \(M\)-polyfolds has been presented in Part II [Geom. Funct. Anal. 19, No.~1, 206--293 (2009; Zbl 1217.58005)], to the more general polyfold setting. The Fredholm theory consists of a transversality and a perturbation theory. The integration on a branched ep-groupoid is used to construct invariants. The results form the basis for applications to Symplectic Field Theory, which will be given in subsequent papers.