The Novikov conjecture on Cheeger spaces (Q2013491)

A Cheeger space is a stratified pseudomanifold admitting, through a choice of ideal boundary conditions, an \(L^2\)-de Rham cohomology theory satisfying Poincaré duality. It is shown that this cohomology theory is invariant under stratified homotopy equivalence and that its signature is invariant under Cheeger space cobordism. Using coupling with Mishchenko bundles, the authors define higher analytic signatures for a Cheeger space and prove their stratified homotopy invariance under the additional assumption that the assembly map is rationally injective. Then they show that the analytic signature of a Cheeger space coincides with its topological signature as defined by Banagl. Thus, the Novikov conjecture is proved for oriented Cheeger spaces whose fundamental group satisfies the strong Novikov conjecture.