Elliptic genera, transgression and loop space Chern-Simons forms (Q1027065)

Let \(M\) be a closed manifold. For \(a \in K(M)\) and \(t\in \mathbb{C}\) one can define \(\Lambda_ta=\underline{\mathbb{C}}+ta+t^2\Lambda^2a + \cdots\) and \(S_ta=\underline{\mathbb{C}}+ta+t^2S^2a + \cdots\) in \(K(M)[[t]]\). One can associate Chern characters to these formal bundles. For \(q=e^{2\pi i \tau}\) with \(\mathrm{Im}\tau>0\) set \[ \Theta_1(T_\mathbb{C}M)=\bigotimes_{n=1}^{\infty}S_{q^n}(T_\mathbb{C}M-\underline{\mathbb{C}}^{\dim M}) \otimes \bigotimes_{m=1}^{\infty}\Lambda_{q^m}(T_\mathbb{C}M-\underline{\mathbb{C}}^{\dim M}) \;. \] Given a connection \(\nabla^{TM}\), the so-called Landweber-Stong form is \[ \Phi_L(\nabla^{TM},\tau):=L(TM,\nabla^{TM})\mathrm{ch}(\Theta_1(T_\mathbb{C}M),\nabla^{TM}) \;. \] In a similar way Witten forms are defined. Integration of these forms over \(M\) yields elliptic genera. For \(\dim M=4k\) the authors express \(\Phi_L\) as \[ \Phi_L(\nabla^{TM},\tau)=\mathrm{det}^{1/2}\Bigl(f_{\Phi_L}\bigl(\frac{(\nabla^{TM})^2}{4\pi^2},\tau\bigr)\Bigr) \;. \] Here \(f_{\Phi_L}\) is a function built from Jacobi theta-functions. This expression allows them to associate a Chern-Simons form \(\mathrm{CS} \Phi_L(\nabla_0^{TM},\nabla_1^{TM},\tau) \in \Omega^{odd}(M,\mathbb{C})[[q^{1/2}]]\) to \(\Phi_L\), which is defined for two connections \(\nabla_0^{TM}, \nabla_1^{TM}\) when \(\dim M=4k-1\). They do the same for the Witten forms. Their main result concerns the modular properties of these Chern-Simons forms, which are proven to be similar to those of the Landweber-Stong resp. Witten forms. They also prove relations among the different Chern-Simons forms. In dimension 3 and with one connection trivial they express their Chern-Simons forms in terms of the ordinary Chern-Simons forms, and in dimension 11 they prove a cancellation formula. They also consider the connection with index theory on the loop space.