Diffeomorphisms and noncommutative analytic torsion (Q4699484)

The author proves an index theorem concerning the pushforward of the flat \(\mathfrak{B}\)-vector bundle over a manifold \(M\), where \(\mathfrak{B}\) is an appropriate algebra and \(M\) is a fiber bundle \(\pi: M \to B\) with connected closed fibers \(Z\). The associated analytic torsion \(\mathcal{T}\) is constructed and it is shown that \(\mathcal{T}\) gives invariants of homotopy classes \(\pi_*(\text{Diff}(Z))\) when \(Z\) is a smooth closed aspherical manifold. Let \(\mathcal{E}\) be a local system of finitely generated projective \(\mathfrak{B}\) modules on \(M\). A connection on \(\mathcal{E}\) is decomposed into two components \(\nabla ^{\mathcal{E},1,0}\) and \(\nabla ^{\mathcal{E}, 0, 1}\), where \(\nabla ^{\mathcal{E},1,0}: C^\infty(M; \mathcal{E}) \to \Omega^1(M; \mathcal{E})\) is a connection in usual sense and \(\nabla ^{\mathcal{E}, 0, 1}\) is a differentiation in the noncommutative direction. Using a connection with flat \(\nabla ^{\mathcal{E},1,0}\) which is called a partially flat connection, the author defines a characteristic class \[ [CS]:K^{alg}_{\mathfrak{B}}(M) \to \bigoplus_{p>q, p+q; \text{odd}} H^p(M; \overline{H}_q(\mathfrak{B})) \] where \(\overline{H}_*(\mathfrak{B})\) is the noncommutative de Rham cohomology of the algebra \(\mathfrak{B}\). Extending the construction with connections to the one with superconnections, the author develops analytic methods and shows in Theorem 1 that \[ [CS(\pi_* \mathcal{E})] =\int_Z e(TZ) \cup [CS(\mathcal{E})] \quad \text{in} \quad \bigoplus_{p>q, p+q; \text{odd}} H^p(M; \overline{H}_q(\mathfrak{B})) \] when the fiberwise differentials \(\overline{d^Z}\) have closed image. Using super calculus, the author defines an analytic torsion \(\mathcal{T}\) and proves in Theorem 2 the identity \[ d {\mathcal T} = \int_Z e \left(TZ, \nabla^{TZ} \right) \wedge CS \left( \nabla^{\mathcal E}, h^{\mathcal E} \right) - CS \left( \nabla^{\pi_*{\mathcal E}}, h^{\pi_*{\mathcal E}} \right) \text{ in } \overline{\Omega}^{\prime \prime, \text{odd}}(B, {\mathfrak B}) \] where \(h^{\mathcal E}\) is a \({\mathfrak B}\)-valued Hermitian metric on \({\mathcal E}\), \(h^{\pi_*{\mathcal E}}\) is the induced \({\mathfrak B}\)-valued Hermitian metric on \(\pi_*{\mathcal E}\) and \(\overline{\Omega}^{\prime \prime, *}(B, {\mathfrak B})\) is a certain differential complex. Further, it is proved that if \(\dim(Z)\) is odd, then the right hand side vanishes. It is then obtained in Theorem 3 that the cohomology class \([{\mathcal T}] \in \bigoplus_{p > q, p + q; \text{even}} H^p(B; \overline{H}_q({\mathfrak B}))\) is a (smooth) topological invariant of the fiber bundle \({\pi}:M \to B\) and the local system \({\mathcal E}\). Given a representative \(\alpha : S^{i} \to \text{Diff}(Z)\) of \(\pi_i(\text{Diff}(Z))\), one has a fiber bundle \(Z \to M \to B\) by identifying the boundaries of two copies of \(D^{i+1}\times Z\) with \(\alpha\). The author applies the theorems above to this bundle and shows that the pairing of \(\int_B [\mathcal{T}]\) with \(H^q(\Gamma, \mathbb{C})\) gives numerical invariants of \([\alpha] \in \pi_i(\text{Diff}(Z))\). \smallskip It is remarked that this result is related to the conjecture of Farrell and Hsiang concerning the homotopy group of \(\text{Diff}(Z)\) [see \textit{F. T. Farrell} and \textit{W. C. Hsiang}, Proc. Symp. Pure Math., Vol. 32, Part 1, 325-337 (1978; Zbl 0393.55018)].