Realizing the analytic surgery group of Higson and Roe geometrically. II: Relative \(\eta\)-invariants (Q343176)

The paper is the second of a series of 3 papers (for Part I, III, see [J. Homotopy Relat. Struct. 12, No. 1, 109--142 (2017; Zbl 1370.19003); Math. Ann. 366, No. 3--4, 1513--1559 (2016; Zbl 1370.19002)]), in which the authors define a geometric analogue \(\mathcal S^{\mathrm{geo}}_*(X; \mathcal L)\) of analytic surgery groups of \textit{N. Higson} and \textit{J. Roe} [Pure Appl. Math. Q. 6, No. 2, 555--601 (2010; Zbl 1227.19006)] to relative \(\eta\)-invariants. For a locally compact Hausdorff space \(X\) and a locally trivial bundle \(\mathcal L \to X\) of finitely generated Banach \(B\)-modules. In this part, the authors proved the homotopy invariance of relative \(\eta\)-invariants. A geometric Baum-Douglas type cycle relative to \(\mathcal L\) is \((W, (\mathcal E_B, \mathcal E'_B, E_\mathbb C, E_\mathbb C), \alpha,f )\), consisting of: \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] a smooth compact \(\mathrm{spin}^c\)- manifold \(W\) with boundary \(\partial W\), \item[(2)] locally trivial smooth projective \(B\)-module bundles \(\mathcal E_B\) and \(\mathcal E'_B\) over \(W\), \item[(3)] the smooth Hermitian vector bundles \(\mathcal E'_B, E_\mathbb C, E_B\) over the boundary \(\partial W\), \item[(4)] a continuous map \(f: \partial W \to X\), and \item[(5)] a smooth isomorphism of \(B\)-bundles \(\alpha: \mathcal E|_{\partial W} \oplus (E'_{\mathbb C} \otimes f^*\mathcal L_X) \to \mathcal E'|_{\partial W} \oplus (E_{\mathbb C} \otimes f^*\mathcal L_X)\). \end{itemize} Let \(\gamma\) denote a finitely generated group, \(\tilde{X}\) -- a proper geodesic metric space, \(\gamma\) is a free and proper action of \(\Gamma\) on \(\tilde X\), and \(X = \tilde X/\Gamma\). Let \(\mathcal L_{C^*_\epsilon(\Gamma)}, \epsilon = \text{ reduced or full}\), be the Mishchenko bundle on \(X\) associated with \(C^*_\epsilon(\Gamma)\). Since the action \(\gamma\) is free, we have \(K^\Gamma_*(\tilde X)\cong K_*(X)\) The assembly map can be constructed as \[ \mu_{X,\epsilon}: K_*(X) \to K_*(\mathrm{pt},C^*_\epsilon(\Gamma)), (M,E,\varphi) \mapsto (M,E\otimes_\mathbb C\varphi^*\mathcal L_{C^*_\epsilon(\Gamma)}). \] Denote by \(D^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X)\) the \(C^*\)-algebra of \(\Gamma\)-invariant pseudolocal controlled operators and \(C^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X)\) the \(C^*\)-algebra generated by \(\Gamma\)-invariant locally compact controlled operators. The short exact sequence \[ 0 \to C^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X) \to D^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X) \to D^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X)/C^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X) \to 0 \] induces the six-term exact sequences in \(K\)-theory. Because \(K_p(C^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X)) \cong K_p(C^*_\epsilon(\Gamma))\) and \(K_{p+1}(D^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X)/C^*_{\Gamma,\epsilon}(X))\cong K_1(X)\), one has a six-term exact sequence, also a six-term exact sequence with assembly map for geometric \(K\)-theory for geometric objects. The main result of the paper (Theorem 5.5, see also Theorem 1.2) is a geometric proof of a result of Keswani regarding the homotopy invariance of relative \(\eta\)-invariants: For two unitary finite dimensional representations \(\sigma_1,\sigma_2: \Gamma \to U(k)\) and a type \(II_1\) factor \(N\), let \(E_i = E\gamma \times_{\sigma_i} \mathbb C \to B\gamma\), and \(\Phi: E_1\otimes N \to E_2\otimes N\) an isomorphism of \(N\)-bundles over \(B\Gamma\), \(\aleph_0:= (E_1,E_2,\Phi)\) denotes the associated cocycle for \(K^1(B\Gamma,\mathbb R/\mathbb Z)\), which is isomorphic with \(\aleph = (\aleph_0, \sigma-1,\sigma_2)\). The Chern-Simon invariants of cycles with connection \(cs_\aleph: \mathcal S^{\mathrm{geo}}_0(\Gamma, C^*_{\mathrm{full}}) \to \mathbb R\) is (Theorem 5.5) the composition of \[ \mathcal S^{\mathrm{geo}}_0(\Gamma, C^*_{\mathrm{full}}) \stackrel{\Phi_{C^*_{\mathrm{full}}}}{\longrightarrow} \mathcal S_1^h(\sigma_1,\sigma_2) \stackrel{\rho_{\sigma_1,\sigma_2}}{\longrightarrow} \mathbb R \]