Index theory of Dirac operators on manifolds with corners up to codimension two (Q3159984)

This paper is a survey of the index theory of operators of Dirac type. The survey emphasizes concepts needed to understand index theorems for Dirac operators on manifolds with corners of codimension two. The last two sections of the paper focus on these theorems. In particular the last section addresses the work of the author and R. B. Melrose on the case of non-invertible corner operators. The focus on manifolds with corners distinguishes this paper from most other surveys of index theory. However the paper can also serve as an introduction to the \(b\)-geometric treatment of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer theorem (for manifolds with boundary) discussed by \textit{R. B. Melrose} [The Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem (A. K. Peters, Wellesley, MA) (1993; Zbl 0796.58050)]. Indeed a reader familiar with the Gauss-Bonnet theorem and not looking for a detailed discussion of characteristic classes may find the beginning of this paper useful as a brief introduction to the Atiyah-Singer index theorem and its heat kernel proof. Many readers will benefit from this paper's extensive list of references to research papers, research monographs, and textbooks. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1050.58002].