A horizontal Chern-Gauss-Bonnet formula on totally geodesic foliations (Q2140585)

This paper studies the Euler characteristic of a smooth, oriented, connected, compact Riemannian manifold which is equipped with a totally geodesic foliation. The main result of the paper is Theorem 1.1. In fact, this theorem establishes on any such foliated Riemannian manifold \(\mathbb{M}\) a formula that is similar to the famous Chern-Gauss-Bonnet formula. This formula allows explicit calculation of the Euler characteristic of \(\mathbb{M}\) from curvature invariants which are transverse to the leaves. The authors named this formula the horizontal Chern-Gauss-Bonnet one. The main tools of the proof of Theorem 1.1 are the probabilistic Brownian Chen series parametrix method that was introduced in [\textit{F. Baudoin}, J. Funct. Anal. 254, No. 2, 301--317 (2008; Zbl 1147.58017)] by the first author as well as the heat semigroup generated by the so-called hypoelliptic sub-Laplacian on forms which was recently introduced by the first two authors of the paper in [Ann. Global Anal. Geom. 56, No. 2, 403--428 (2019; Zbl 1422.53020)].