Secondary classes, Weil measures and the geometry of foliations (Q1057549)

The Chern-Weil theory of characteristic classes is used to define a set of operators, herein called Weil operators, which are canonically associated to a \(C^ 2\)-foliation on a manifold and which determine the residual secondary classes of the foliation. The aim of the paper is to study the properties of these operators, especially their dependence on the geometry of a foliation, so as to gain a better understanding of how the secondary classes are related to geometry.