Symplectic surgery and the Spin\(^c\)-Dirac operator (Q1265467)

Let \(G\) be a compact Lie group acting on a compact symplectic manifold \((M,\omega)\) in a Hamiltonian fashion and with an equivariant moment map \(J:M\to{\mathfrak g}^*\). If these data are pre-quantizable, one can construct an associated \(\text{Spin}^c\)-Dirac operator \(\eth^c\), whose equivariant index yields a virtual representation of \(G\). The author proves a conjecture of \textit{V. Guillemin} and \textit{S. Sternberg} [Invent. Math. 67, 515-538 (1982; Zbl 0503.58018)] that if \(0\) is a regular value of \(J\), the multiplicity \(N(0)\) of the trivial representation in the index space \(\text{ind}(\eth^c)\), is equal to the index of the \(\text{Spin}^c\)-Dirac operator for the symplectic quotient \(J^{-1}(0)/G\). The result generalizes some previous articles where the conjecture could only be proven in special cases [loc. cit., see also Zbl 0849.53027, Zbl 0814.58020, Zbl 0851.53020, Zbl 0870.53022]. The present article uses the symplectic cutting technique of \textit{E. Lerman} [Math. Res. Lett. 2, 247-258 (1995; Zbl 0835.53034)] in order to get the full result. Readers having a certain familiarity with the \(\text{Spin}^c\)-Dirac operator on symplectic manifolds will enjoy the very well-written introduction and the clear presentation of the details in the following sections. An extension to the case that \(0\) is no longer a regular value of \(J\) is discussed in a separate paper [\textit{E. Meinrenken} and \textit{R. Sjamaar}, Topology 38, 699-762 (1999)].