The tangent groupoid of a Heisenberg manifold (Q2382019)

The author extends the notion of tangent groupoid to Heisenberg manifolds, a class of manifolds that includes CR manifolds, contact manifolds, codimension-one foliations, and confoliations. The tangent bundle of a Heisenberg manifold should be regarded as a bundle of graded two-step nilpotent Lie groups. The author shows that, in the coordinates introduced by [\textit{R. Beals} and \textit{P. Greiner}, Calculus on Heisenberg manifolds. Ann. Math. Stud. 119. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1988; Zbl 0654.58033)] under the name ``antisymmetric \(u\)-coordinates'', a Heisenberg diffeomorphism is appropriately locally approximated by a Lie group isomorphism. It follows that these coordinates permit the construction of a \(b\)-differentiable tangent groupoid of a Heisenberg manifold and that, for a Heisenberg diffeomorphism, this local approximation determines an isomorphism of the tangent groupoids. This paper provides one step towards an index theorem for geometric hypoelliptic operators on Heisenberg manifolds. Some other ingredients for the proof of such a theorem have already been established. \textit{A. Connes} [Noncommutative geometry. San Diego, CA: Academic Press (1994; Zbl 0818.46076)] has shown how to use tangent groupoids to give a proof of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. R. Beals and P. Greiner [op. cit.] and \textit{M. E. Taylor} [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 313 (1984; Zbl 0554.35025)] have provided a pseudodifferential calculus appropriate for hypoelliptic operators on Heisenberg manifolds. \textit{E. Van Erp} [The Atiyah-Singer index formula for subelliptic operators on contact manifolds, Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 2005] has proven an index theorem on contact manifolds. Ideas in this paper may also lead to the construction of tangent groupoids for more general Carnot-Carathéodory manifolds. \textit{A. Bellaïche} [Prog. Math. 144, 1--78 (1996; Zbl 0862.53031)] and \textit{M. Gromov} [Prog. Math. 144, 79--323 (1996; Zbl 0864.53025)] have provided a foundation for progress in that direction.