The Novikov conjecture, the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms and Hilbert-Hadamard spaces (Q2041862)

A \textit{Hilbert-Hadamard space} \(M\) is a complete geodesic CAT(0) metric space (i.e., a Hadamard space) all of whose tangent cones are isometrically embeddable into Hilbert spaces. \(M\) is \textit{admissible} if it has an increasing sequence of closed convex subsets \(M_n\), whose union is dense in \(M\), such that each \(M_n\) is isometric to a finite-dimensional Riemannian manifold. This includes Hilbert spaces, complete connected and simply connected Riemannian-Hilbertian manifolds with non-positive sectional curvature, and certain infinite-dimensional symmetric spaces. \par It is proved that the rational strong Novikov conjecture holds for groups acting properly and isometrically on an admissible Hilbert-Hadamard space.