The Atiyah-Singer index theorem as passage to the classical limit in quantum mechanics (Q2364985)

Many authors studied global properties of elliptic (pseudo-)differential operators on \(\mathbb{R}^n\), or on open manifols, by imposing suitable ``boundary'' conditions at infinity, and obtained an index formula of Atiyah-Singer type [see \textit{R. T. Seeley}, Proc. Sympos. Pure Math. 10, 288-307 (1967; Zbl 0159.15504), \textit{L. Hörmander}, `The analysis of linear partial differential operators. III', Springer-Verlag (1985; Zbl 0601.35001), \textit{C. Callias}, Commun. Math. Phys. 62, 213-234 (1978; Zbl 0416.58024)]. However, there are still many important classes of operators which are not covered by the preceding studies. To include those classes of operators which are not treated in the preceding papers, the authors describe a new approach to the Atiyah-Singer index theorem, by using the technique of continuous fields of \(C^*\)-algebras, and establish an index formula for the whole class of elliptic pseudo-differential operators investigated by \textit{M. A. Shubin} [`Pseudo-differential operators and spectral theory', Springer-Verlag (1987; Zbl 0616.47040)].