Analytic and topological invariants associated to nowhere zero vector fields (Q1305088)

Motivated by the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern and Poincaré-Hopf theorems, the author studies skew-adjoint and Toeplitz operators whose index theory provides nontrivial invariants of manifolds with vanishing Euler characteristic. Let \(M\) be an oriented closed Riemannian manifold that admits a unit vector field \(V\). Let \(c(V)\) denote the action on differential forms defined by the pointwise sum of exterior multiplication by \(V\)'s dual and interior multiplication by \(V\). Let \(D\) be the sum of exterior differentiation and its adjoint. The author shows that the restriction to even-degree differential forms of the operator \(D(V)\), defined to be one-half \(c(V)\circ D-D\circ c(V)\), is a real skew-adjoint elliptic first order differential operator whose kernel has mod 2 dimension equal to the Kervaire semi-characteristic when the dimension of \(M\) is \(4q+1\). For \(M\) odd-dimensional and nonsimply connected, the author defines a more refined invariant. After complexifying, he defines the self-adjoint operator \(\sqrt{-1} D(V)\). Pairing its positive spectral projection with maps \(g\: M\rightarrow U(N)\) defines Fredholm Toeplitz operators. The author uses the relationship between the indices of these Toeplitz operators and spectral flow to give a heat equation proof of an index formula for these operators. When a \(U(1)\)-valued map \(g\) is defined by exponentiating path integrals of a closed one-form \(\omega\), the index formula reduces to evaluating \([\omega ]\cup e(V)\) on \(M\). Here \(e(V)\) represents the Euler class of \(V\)'s orthogonal complement in the tangent bundle. In this way \(V\) defines a map \(H^{1} (M)\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}\) whose dependence on an index formula makes it a homotopy invariant of \(V\).