K-theory and index theory for some boundary groupoids (Q2210832)

Specifying the exact relation between ellipticity and the Fredholm property is an open problem, specially for operators associated with singular spaces. The paper under review indicates that the answer is related with the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. The authors examine the problem in a groupoid framework, making use of the Fredholm conditions given by Carvalho, Nistor and Qiao in [\textit{C. Carvalho} et al., Oper. Theory: Adv. Appl. 267, 79--122 (2018; Zbl 1446.58011)]. In particular, the authors focus on a large class of Lie groupoids, namely the holonomy groupoids of almost regular foliations (in the sense of Debord, see [\textit{C. Debord}, J. Differ. Geom. 58, No. 3, 467--500 (2001; Zbl 1034.58017); \textit{C. Debord} et al., J. Reine Angew. Math. 628, 1--35 (2009; Zbl 1169.58005)]) on a compact manifold \(M\) whose leaves are the connected components of a compact submanifold \(M_1\) and manifold \(M_0 = M \setminus M_1\). Further, the isotropy Lie group over \(M_1\) has dimension equal to the codimension of \(M_1\) in \(M\). The main result is the following: When the codimension is odd, every elliptic operator admits a compact perturbation to a Fredholm one. However, when the codimension is even, it is shown that the Atiyah-Singer theorem imposes an obstruction to such a perturbation. These results follow from a careful computation of the \(K\)-theory in both cases.