Witten deformation and the equivariant index (Q1014882)

Let \(G\) be a compact Lie group acting isometrically on a closed Riemannian manifold \(M\) and let \(E\) be a \(G\)-equivariant \(\mathbb Z/2\)-graded Hermitian vector bundle on \(M\). Transversally elliptic \(G\)-equivariant differential operators acting on the space of sections \(\Gamma(M,E)\) were introduced by \textit{M. F. Atiyah} [Elliptic operators and compact groups. Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 401. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1974; Zbl 0297.58009)]. If such an operator \(D\) is odd, the formal sum \[ \text{ind}^G(D^+)=\sum_{\rho} (a^+_{\rho}-a^-_{\rho}) [\rho], \] which is taken over all irreducible representations, is well-defined. Here, \(a^{\pm}_{\rho}\) is the multiplicity of the representation \(\rho\) in \(\text{Ker}(D^{\pm})\). Let \(Z\) be an equivariant selfadjoint odd bundle endomorphism on \(E\) with a finite number of singular points. Near these, \(D\) is assumed to be a Dirac operator and \(Z\) a Clifford multiplication by \(iV\), where \(V\) is an element in the Lie algebra of the maximal torus \(T\) of \(G\) such that \(\{\exp(tV)\mid t \in {\mathbb R}\}\) is dense in \(T\). The authors use Witten deformation in order to express the indices \(\text{ind}^{\rho}(D^+):=a^+_{\rho}-a^-_{\rho}\) in terms of local data associated to \(D\) and \(Z\) near the singular points: By adapting a localization technique due to \textit{M. A. Shubin} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 6, 370--409 (1996; Zbl 0861.58039)], they show that for \(s \to \infty\) the spectrum of the operator \(\frac 1s(D+sZ)^2\) restricted to the isotypical component of type \(\rho\) in \(\Gamma(M,E^{\pm})\) concentrates to the spectrum of a model operator defined in terms of data near the singular points. For a torus action, the spectrum (with multiplicities) of the model operator can be explicitely determined -- in particular the dimension of the kernel. By using that \(\text{ind}^{\rho}(D^+)=\text{ind}^{\rho}(D^++sZ^+)\) and by considering the action of the maximal torus of \(G\), the authors obtain a formula for \(\text{ind}^{\rho}(D^+)\). They apply it to the signature operator and the de Rham operator.