The local index formula in noncommutative geometry (Q1901997)

The fundamental purpose of these researches arises the following two tools for describing a geometric space \(X\) in noncommutative geometry to go beyond differential topology and reach the geometric structure itself, including the metric and the real analytic aspects. In this idea, the most fruitful point of view is that of spectral geometry where the measure theoretic understanding of the space \(X\) is encoded by a von Neumann algebra of operators \({\mathcal A}\) acting on a Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\) and the geometric understanding of \(X\) will be encoded by an unbounded selfadjoint operator \({\mathcal D}\), with compact resolvent, which interacts with the algebra in a bounded fashion. So, in this point of view a geometric space is described as a triple \(({\mathcal A},{\mathcal H},{\mathcal D})\). The paper contributes indeed to the advancement of this point of view in the following two significant ways: (1) by showing that any pseudogroup of transformations of a manifold gives rise to such a spectral triple of finite summability degree. More precisely, in the first section of the paper a spectral triple is naturally associated to a triangular structure on a manifold \(M\) given by an integrable subbundle \(V\) of the tangent bundle \(TM\) together with Euclidean metrics on both \(V\) and \(N= TM/V\). Namely, in the first step a hypoelliptic differential operator \(Q\) corresponding to the signature of \(M\), which modulo lower order only depends upon the Euclidean structures of both \(V\) and \(N\) but not upon a choice of Riemannian metric of \(M\), is constructed. This will be done by combining a longitudinal signature operator of order 2 with the usual signature operator in the transverse direction. By using \(Q\), the first-order operator \({\mathcal D}\) is defined by the equation \(Q={\mathcal D}|{\mathcal D}|\). The operator \({\mathcal D}\) gives rise to a spectral triple \(({\mathcal A},{\mathcal H},{\mathcal D})\) for the crossed product \({\mathcal A}= C^\infty_c(M)\bowtie\Gamma\) where \(\Gamma\) is any group of diffeomorphisms preserving the triangular structure (Theorem 1.1). As a technical tool in the proof of Theorem 1.1, the pseudodifferential calculus which is adapted to the situation [for a special case of the pseudodifferential calculus on Heisenberg manifold see \textit{R. Beals} and \textit{P. Greiner}, ``Calculus on Heisenberg manifolds'', Ann. Math. Stud. 119 (1988; Zbl 0654.58033)] is described. If \(M\) is compact, \(D\) has compact resolvent (Theorem 1.1); in this case the precise summability is given by showing that \[ f(D- \lambda)^{-1}\in \alpha^{(p,\infty)},\quad p= v+2n,\quad (f\in C^\infty_c(M), \lambda\not\in\mathbb{R}) \] and the Dixmier trace of the product \(f|D|^{-p}\) is computed. (2) The second way to the announced advancement is by proving a general, in some sense universal, local index formula for arbitrary spectral triples of finite summability degree, in terms of the Dixmier trace and its residue-type extension. This local formula is achieved by adapting the Wodzicki residue, the unique extension of the Dixmier trace to pseudodifferential operators of arbitrary order, to all necessary examples. So for a spectrally defined space \(({\mathcal A},{\mathcal H},{\mathcal D})\) the usual notion of dimension is replaced by a dimension spectrum, which is a subset of \(\mathbb{C}\). Under the assumption of a simple discrete dimension spectrum, the Wodzicki residue makes sense and defines a trace on the algebra of pseudodifferential operators \(({\mathcal A},{\mathcal H},{\mathcal D})\). The latter algebra is obtained by analyzing the one-parameter group \(\sigma_t= |D|^{it}\cdot|D|^{-it}\) in a manner very similar to Tomita's analysis of the modular automorphism group of von Neumann algebras. When the dimension spectrum is discrete but not simple, the analogue of the Wodzicki residue is no longer a trace; it satisfies, however, cohomological identities which relate it to higher residues. Under the sole hypothesis of discreteness of the dimension spectrum, a general local formula for the Chern character of a spectral triple \(({\mathcal A},{\mathcal H},{\mathcal D})\) is obtained and the components of the Chern character in terms of finite linear combinations, with rational coefficients, of higher residues applied to products of iterated commutators of \(D^2\) with \([D, a^j]\), \(a^j\in{\mathcal A}\), is expressed. A noteworthy feature of the proof is the use of renormalization group techniques to remove the transcendental coefficients which arise when the dimension spectrum has multiplicity. In the manifold case, this formula reduces to the classical local index formula.