A Riemann-Roch theorem for flat bundles, with values in the algebraic Chern-Simons theory (Q1585689)

The authors prove a version of the Riemann-Roch theorem for complex algebraic varieties using Chern-Simons characteristic classes. Let \(\nabla:E\rightarrow E\otimes\Omega^1_{X}\) be an algebraic connection, where \(E\) is a locally free sheaf over \(X\), and \(X\) is an algebraic variety defined over a field \( k \) of characteristic zero. Let further \(({\Omega}^{*}_{X/S}\otimes_{{\mathcal O}_{X}}E , \nabla)\) denote the corresponding relative de Rham complex. For such objects an application of the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch, with Chern classes in the Chow groups modulo torsion to a relative de Rham complex was first done by \textit{D. Mumford} [in: Arithmetic and Geometry, Vol. II, Prog. Math. 36, 271-328 (1983; Zbl 0554.14008)]. A refinement of this, proved by the authors, is the Riemann-Roch formula which uses the characteristic classes \(Nw_{p}(E,\nabla)\) that lie in a quotient of \(AD(X)\), the group of algebraic differential characters. The authors consider connections \(\nabla : E \rightarrow E\otimes \Omega^1_{X}(\log(Y))\) admitting log poles along a normal crossing divisor \(Y \subset X\). More precisely let \(f : X \rightarrow S\) be a flat map of smooth varieties, \(Y \subset X\) and \(T \subset S\) the normal crossing divisors. The triple \(\{ f : X \rightarrow S\), \(Y \subset X\), \(T \subset S \}\) is called relative normal crossings divisor if \(f^{-1}(T) \subset Y \) and \(\Omega^1_{X/S}(\log(Y)):=\Omega^1_{X}(\log(Y)) / f^{*}\Omega^1_{S}(\log(T))\) is free of rank \(d=\dim(X/S)\). The other ingredients in the Riemann-Roch formula under consideration are: the Saito relative top Chern classes \(c_{d}( \Omega^1_{X/S}(\log(Y)), \text{res}_{Z}) \in CH^{d}(X,Z_{*})\), and the canonical Gauss-Manin connection on the de Rham cohomology \(\nabla_{GM} :H^{i}_{DR}(X/S)(\log Y),E) \rightarrow H^{i}_{DR}(X/S)(\log Y),E)\otimes \Omega^{1}_{S}(\log T)\). The latter is defined when \({\nabla}^{2}\) is basic, i.e. \({\nabla}^{2} \in \text{Hom}(E, f^{*}{\Omega}^{2}_{S}(\log T)\otimes E)\). The main theorem of the paper is the following: Let \(\{ f : X \rightarrow S, Y \subset X,T \subset S \}\) be a relative normal crossings divisor with \(f\) flat and projective and \(\dim(X/S)=d\). Let \((E, \nabla)\) be a locally free sheaf with connection on \(X\), and assume the curvature form \({\nabla}^{2}\) is basic. Then \[ \begin{multlined} Nw_{p}((H^{*}_{DR} (X/S)(\log Y),E), \nabla_{GM})- \text{rank}(E)*Nw_{p}((H^{*}_{DR}(X/S)(\log Y)), \nabla_{GM})= \\ =(-1)^{d}f_{*}(c_{d}( \Omega^1_{X/S}(\log(Y)), \text{res}_{Z})* Nw_{p}(E,\nabla)).\end{multlined} \] Here \(H^*_{DR}(X/S)(\log Y))\) is the usual de Rham cohomology (\(E={\mathcal O}_{X}\) with the trivial connection). Now, \[ \begin{aligned} Nw_p(((H^{*}_{DR}(X/S)(\log Y)), \nabla_{GM})&= (0), \quad p \geq 2, \\ 2*Nw_{1}(((H^{*}_{DR}(X/S)(\log Y)), \nabla_{GM})&= (0).\end{aligned} \] {}.