Traces of compact operators and the noncommutative residue (Q1941141)

Spectra of pseudo-differential operators is a recurrent topic in noncommutative geometry; their power is hidden in the elementary but important fact that such spectra ``almost'' determine the geometry of the Riemannian manifold upon which the pseudo-differential operators act. For example, the volume, curvature, etc. can be recovered from the spectra; a positive answer to the question ``Can one hear the shape of a drum?'' belongs to the same set of examples. \smallskip Recall that the Dixmier trace \(\mathrm{Tr}_{\omega} (P)\) of a pseudo-differential operator \(P\) is given by the formula \(\mathrm{Tr}_{\omega}(P)=\lim_{N\to\infty} {1\over\;N}\sum_{i=1}^N\mu_i(P)\), where \(\mu_i(P)\) are the decreasing eigenvalues of \(P\). The Wodzicki (noncommutative) residue \(\mathrm{Res}_W(P)\) of the operator \(P\) is defined as \(\mathrm{Res}_W(P)=2 \mathrm{Res}_{s=0}\mathrm{Tr}(P\Delta^{-s})\), where \(s\in {\mathbb C}\) is a complex variable, \(\mathrm{Res}_{s=0}\) the residue at \(s=0\) of a holomorphic (operator) function and \(\Delta\) is the Laplace operator. The Connes trace theorem links the Dixmier trace and the Wodzicki residue in the beautiful formula \(\mathrm{Tr}_{\omega}(P)={1\over d (2\pi)^d} \mathrm{Res}_W(P)\), where \(d\) is the dimension of the Riemannian manifold \(M\). \smallskip The authors generalize the Connes trace theorem in several directions. One is that the Laplace operator \(\Delta\) can be replaced by the so-called Laplacian modulated operators, which are a wider class of Hilbert-Schmidt operators. Another direction are operators without a unique trace. Several corollaries clarifying the rôle of Dixmier traces are proved. The proofs rely on previous results obtained by the same group of authors. The paper was written in collaboration with the late Nigel Kalton, the greatest expert in the field.