Derivations and Dirichlet forms on fractals (Q1760154)

The authors provide a concrete description of the elements of the Hilbert module \(\mathcal{H}\) of Cipriati and Sauvageot in the setting of Kigami's resistance forms on finitely ramified fractals. This class of fractals includes the post-critically finite (p.c.f.) fractal sets studied by the aforementioned authors. The Hilbert module \(\mathcal{H}\) is decomposed into a direct sum of piecewise harmonic components corresponding to the cellular structure of the fractal. Furthermore, it is shown that under this decomposition, the image of the derivation \(\partial\) naturally associated with the Dirichlet form, is separated from its orthogonal compliment and therefore provides an analogue of the Hodge decomposition for \(\mathcal{H}\). Employing the obtained decomposition, the authors also analyze the Fredholm module discussed in [\textit{F. Cipriati} and \textit{J.-L. Sauvageot}, Commun. Math. Phys. 286, No. 2, 541--558 (2009; Zbl 1190.28003)] and present simplified proofs of the main results of [loc. cit.]. The connection between the Fredholm module of Cipriati and Sauvageot and the topology of the fractal is clarified by proving that there exists a non-trivial Fredholm module if and only if the fractal is not a tree, i.e., not simply connected.