Localization of basic characteristic classes (Q486764)

The author defines and studies new invariants associated to Riemannian foliations. Consider a Riemannian manifold \(M\) and a transversely oriented Riemannian foliation \(\mathcal F\), of codimension \(q\), on \(M\). The basic Euler-Pontryagin ring \(EP\) is defined as the subring of the basic cohomology ring \(H^*(M,{\mathcal F})\), containing the basic cohomology classes (i.e., those corresponding to the basic forms of the normal bundle of \(\mathcal F\), with respect to a Riemannian basic connection). Let \(p \in EP\); using a transverse version of integration (due to Sergiescu), the author defines the basic characteristic number of \(p\) as \(\int_{\mathcal F} p\), which is a new invariant of \(\mathcal F\). Suppose that \(M\) is connected, complete and simply-connected, \(\mathcal F\) is a Killing foliation and the space of leaf closures is compact. Then the main result states that the basic characteristic numbers are determined by the infinitesimal dynamical behaviour of the foliation at the union of its closed leaves. A key tool in the proof is a basic version of the Thom isomorphism for foliated bundles over \(\mathcal F\).