Orthogonal Maslov index (Q1907479)

Let \(V\) be an \(\mathbb{R}\)-vector space with a symplectic form \(C\). The ordinary Maslov index is the signature of some quadratic form defined on \(L_1 \oplus L_2 \oplus L_3\), where \(L_i = L_i^\perp\), \(i = 1,2,3\), are Lagrangian subspaces of \(V\). This index determines a discrete cocycle \(\mu \in H^2_{\text{discr}} (\text{Sp} (V,C), \mathbb{Z})\). For an \(\mathbb{R}\)-vector space \(W\) with a symmetric form \(B(v_1, v_2)\) of zero signature, the author defines the orthogonal Maslov index, which is an integer-valued function of a set of five self-orthogonal subspaces \(V_i \subset W\). As above, this index leads to an explicit formula for a cocycle \(\nu \in H^4_{\text{discr}} (O(W,B), \mathbb{Z})\) and measures obstructions to the additivity of the signature of manifolds.