The index bundle for Fredholm morphisms (Q2898487)

The Atiyah-Jänich theorem states that the space of bounded Fredholm operators on a separable Hilbert space \(H\) is a classifying space for \(K\)-theory. The proof involves showing that NEWLINE\[NEWLINE 1 \rightarrow [X,GL(H)] \rightarrow [X,{\mathbf F}(H)] \rightarrow K(X) \rightarrow 1 NEWLINE\]NEWLINE is exact and invoking Kuiper's theorem stating that \(GL(H)\) is contractible. Here, \({\mathbf F}(H)\) is the space of bounded Fredholm operators on \(H\), and the map \([X,{\mathbf F}(H)] \rightarrow K(X)\) is called an index map because, for \(T: X\rightarrow {\mathbf F}(H)\) with \(\text{dim}(\text{ker} (T(x)))\) independent of \(x \in X\), the homotopy class of \(T\) maps to the \(K\)-theory class defined by the bundle of kernels of \(T(x)\) minus the bundle of cokernels of \(T(x)\). For more general \(T\), bundles are constructed with the help of a finite-codimension subspace of \(H\) that has zero-dimensional intersection with every \(\text{ker}(T(x))\).NEWLINENEWLINEFor a Banach space \(E\), the analogous sequence NEWLINE\[NEWLINE1 \rightarrow [X,GL(E)] \rightarrow [X,{\mathbf F}(E)] \rightarrow K(X)NEWLINE\]NEWLINE is exact. With additional assumptions on \(E\), the right-hand map is surjective and/or \(GL(E)\) is contractible. (See \textit{M. G. Zaĭdenberg, S. G. Kreĭn, P. A. Kuchment} and \textit{A. A. Pankov} [Russ. Math. Surv. 30, No. 5, 115--175 (1975; Zbl 0335.47017)] for details.) The paper under review extends the definition of the index map to Fredholm morphisms between Banach bundles over a compact \(X\), and in this setting it proves exactness of a sequence analogous to the one immediately above. The paper concludes with an application to a family of boundary-value problems parametrized by a compact space \(X\).