Cobordism invariance and the well-definedness of local index (Q2355551)

This paper is concerned with the index theory of Dirac-type operators on open Riemannian manifolds. The Dirac operators involved are compatible with a fixed open covering for the end of the manifold. Such operators appear, for instance, on a symplectic manifold with a Hamiltonian torus action. In earlier work, Furuta, Yoshida and the author developed (localized) index theory for operators as such. In the current paper the author proves the cobordism invariance of this index. The proof given is a variant of a technique developed by Braverman, namely a Witten-type deformation using Morita equivalence and an extra symmetry of Clifford algebras of indefinite metrics.