Bounds on the von Neumann dimension of \(L^ 2\)-cohomoloy and the Gauss- Bonnet theorem for open manifolds (Q1819744)

This article continues the authors' discussion of characteristic invariants for noncompact complete Riemannian manifolds M with finite volume and ''bounded geometry'' given in a former paper [Differential geometry and complex analysis, Vol. dedic. H. E. Rauch, 115-154 (1985; Zbl 0592.53036)]. The main point here is to drop the assumption of profiniteness. This is done by the basic observation that in a suitable sense, an arbitrary normal covering is locally profinite. Typical results concern homotopy invariance properties of the geometric Euler, Hirzebruch signature and Betti numbers, and a Chern-Gauss-Bonnet theorem (i.e. the coincidence of this Euler characteristic with the topological one) under the additional assumption that M is diffeomorphic to the interior of a compact manifold with boundary. Moreover, the results are extended to certain metrics which are conformally related to those considered in the beginning.