Enlargeability, foliations, and positive scalar curvature (Q1717657)

The authors extend the notable results of Lichnerowicz, Connes, and Gromov-Lawson which relate geometry and characteristic numbers to the existence and non-existence of metrics of positive scalar curvature (PSC). \par In particular, they show that a spin foliation with Hausdorff homotopy groupoid of an enlargeable manifold admits no PSC metric. Another result proved in this paper is that any metric of PSC on a spin foliation is bounded by a multiple of the reciprocal of the foliation K-area of the ambient manifold. And, finally, the authors show that Connes' vanishing theorem for characteristic numbers of PSC foliations extends to a vanishing theorem for Haefliger cohomology classes.