Secondary invariants for string bordism and topological modular forms (Q472543)

A well-established principle in the border area between algebraic topology and global analysis predicts that local geometric representations of primary topological invariants lead to interesting secondary constructions. Instances of this principle are the construction of secondary characteristic classes, the discussion of Adams' \(e\)-invariant as well as the construction of the Kreck-Stolz invariants. The present paper uses this principle in order to obtain a secondary invariant for string bordism classes and elements of the homotopy of the spectrum of topological modular forms. Let \(\mathrm{MString}_{4m-1}\) be the bordism group of string manifolds of dimension \(4m-1\) with \(m\geq 1\). A main tool of this study is an abelian group \(T_{2m}\) and a homomorphism \(b^{an}:\mathrm{MString}_{4m-1}\rightarrow T_{2m}\) obtained from spectral invariants and differential geometry.