Hypoelliptic Laplacian and Bott-Chern cohomology. A theorem of Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck in complex geometry (Q1944022)

This book can be regarded as a largely extended or generalized version of the author's [``The hypoelliptic Dirac operator'', Progress in Mathematics 265, 113--246 (2008; Zbl 1157.58011)]. The principal objective in the book is to establish a version of a Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck theorem on coherent homology in the realm of complex Hermitian geometry by using mostly analytical methods. The theorem lies at the crossroads of algebraic geometry, in which the Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck theorem is famous, and analysis, in which the Atiyah-Singer index theorem is an analytical or topological counterpart of the above theorem in algebraic geometry. The well-known index theorem of Atiyah and Singer ([Zbl 0164.24001], [Zbl 0164.24201], [Zbl 0164.24301], [Zbl 0212.28603] and [Zbl 0263.58012]) is a formula for the index of an elliptic pseudodifferential operator on a smooth compact manifold. It is established by remarking that it suffices to prove the theorem for classical Dirac operators, in which we can make use of the so-called heat equation method enjoying fantastic cancellations ([Zbl 0198.44301], [Zbl 0259.58010], [Zbl 0257.58008] and [Zbl 0301.58018]). It is supersymmetry lurking in classical Dirac operators that has turned out to cause these fantastic cancellations ([Zbl 0543.58026], [Zbl 0607.58040], [Zbl 0671.58038] and [Zbl 0744.58001]). This book aims to prove a Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck theorem taking values in the Bott-Chern cohomology for proper submersions. To do so, the author uses exotic superconnections together with elliptic superconnection forms, hypoelliptic superconnection forms and exotic superconnection forms. In [Zbl 0592.58047] the author gave a local index theoretic proof of the families index Atiyah-Singer theorem for Dirac operators under the guise of Chern characters. This sparked the study of the adiabatic limit of the Levi-Civita connection on a fibered manifold. It was followed by [Zbl 0671.58037], [Zbl 0768.58048], [Zbl 0744.58001], [Zbl 0804.32017] and [Zbl 0899.32013]. In [Zbl 0666.58042] the author gave sufficient conditions for the local Atiyah-Singer index theorem to still hold for Dirac operators associated with connections differing from the Levi-Civita connection. For other aspects of the theory of the hypoelliptic Laplacian, the reader is referred to the author's [Zbl 1251.35020], [Zbl 1156.58001], [Zbl 1147.58038], [Zbl 1128.53022] and [Zbl 1073.58024]. The organization of the book, consisting of 12 chapters, goes as follows: Chapter 0 is an introduction, the first section of which is devoted to announcing the main result of the book. As the author has stated, the book is the product of several discussions with Andrei Teleman, who, motivated by his own study on the study of class VII surfaces ([Zbl 1093.32006], [Zbl 1231.14028], [Zbl 1096.32011], [Zbl 1093.32006]), asked the author whether it is possible, using analysis, to prove a Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck theorem in Bott-Chern cohomology for proper holomorphic submersions, provided that the source manifold is equipped with a Kähler form being \(\overline{\partial }\partial\) closed and the direct image is locally free. The author has replied that it could certainly be possible by using an adiabatic version of the results of [Zbl 0666.58042] and [Zbl 0661.53050], but it is out of reach, either in the elliptic world or in the hypoelliptic world, unless any adequate assumptions are made on the source manifold. Then the author's endeavor to make this book a reality has started. Chapter 1 is devoted to investigating the adiabatic limit of the Levi-Civita connection on a fibered manifold. In Chapter 2, given a proper submersion \(p:M\rightarrow S\) of complex manifolds with compact fiber \(X\) and a smooth \(\left( 1,1\right) \) form \(\omega^{M} \) on \(M\) inducing a Hermitian metric \(g^{TX}\) on \(TX\), the author studies the adiabatic limit of the holomorphic Hermitian connections on \(TX\) associated with a family of Hermitian metrics \(g_{e}^{TX}\). Given a holomorphic fibration \(p:M\rightarrow S\) equipped with a \(\left( 1,1\right) \) form \(\omega^{M}\)\ as in the previous chapter, Chapter 3 is concerned with the natural superconnection \(B\), for the curvature of which the author gives a formula. In Chapter 4 the author defines elliptic Chern charcter forms \(\alpha_{t}\mid_{t>0}\) associated with the holomorphic projection \(p:M\rightarrow S\) and with the elliptic superconnections of Chapter 3, which is specialized to the case with \(\overline{\partial}^{M}\partial^{M}\omega ^{M}=0\) in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 is devoted to extending the results of Section 3 in [Zbl 1157.58011] to the case with possibly unclosed \(\omega^{M}\), while Chapter 7 extends the results of Section 7 in [Zbl 1157.58011] to the same case. In Chapter 8 the author constructs the hypoelliptic superconnection forms associated with vector bundles and evaluates them, which are used in the succeeding chapter so as to extend the comparison of elliptic and hypoelliptic Quillen metrics in [Zbl 1157.58011] to the case with possibly unclosed \(\omega^{M}\). In Chapter 10 the author constructs exotic hypoelliptic superconnection forms associated with a holomorphic Hermitian vector bundle, which paves the way to Chapter 11, in which a Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck formula in Bott-Chern cohomology is established.