Analytic deformations of equivariant genera, universal symmetry blocks and Witten's rigidity (Q1913481)

This is a continuation of the author's study of the analytic \(t\)-deformations \(\text{ind}_t (D,M)\) of the \(G\)-index \(\text{ind} (D,M)\) of a basic differential operator \(D\) on a closed \(G\)-manifold \(M\), where \(G\) is a compact Lie group [Topology 31, 713-733 (1992; Zbl 0777.57014)] and [Formal deformations of equivariant genera, fixed point formula and universal symmetry blocks, to appear in Prospects in Topology, Proceedings (Princeton 1994)]. It is proved that the function \(\text{ind}_t (D,M): G\to\mathbb{C}\) by analyticity uniquely extends to the complexification \(G^\mathbb{C}\) of \(G\) producing a complex analytic central map \(\widetilde {\text{ind}}_t (D,M): G^\mathbb{C} \to\mathbb{C}\), the analytic properties of which are studied in the first part of the paper. The characteristic feature is that \(\widetilde {\text{ind}}_t (D,M)\) breaks into a \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear combination of universal block-functions. The second part of the paper is devoted to the investigation of the relation between the local formula for \(\text{ind}_t (D,M)\) and Witten's rigidity phenomenon.