Relative index pairing and odd index theorem for even dimensional manifolds (Q630801)

\textit{M. Lesch}, \textit{H. Moscovici} and \textit{M. J. Pflaum} [``Connes-Chern character for manifolds with boundary and eta cochains'', \url{arXiv:0912.0194}] obtained an index formula for an odd dimensional closed manifold \(N\). Let \((p_s)_{0\leq s \leq 1}\in M_k(C^\infty(N))\) be a smooth path of projections over \(N\). Let \(p_s D p_s\) be the Dirac operator twisted by \(p_s\), \(\eta(p_sD p_s)\) its \(\eta\)-invariant, \(\hat{A}(N)\) the \(\hat{A}\)-genus form of \(N\) and \(\text{Tch}_\bullet(p_s)\) the Chern-Simons transgression form of \((p_s)_{0\leq s \leq 1}\). Then \[ \int_0^1 \frac{1}{2} \frac{d}{ds} \eta(p_s D p_s)ds = \int_N \hat{A}(N) \wedge \text{Tch}_\bullet(p_s). \] The first result in the paper under review is to establish a similar formula for an even dimensional closed manifold \(Y\). Let \((U_s)_{0\leq s \leq 1} \in U_k(C^\infty(Y))\) be a smooth path of unitaries over \(Y\). Let \(e_s\in M_{2k}(C^\infty(\mathbb S^1\times Y))\) be the projection defined as the cup product of \(U_s\) with the generator \(e^{2\pi i \theta}\) of \(K^1(\mathbb S^1)\). Let \(D_{\mathbb S^1\times Y}\) be the Dirac operator over \(\mathbb S^1\times Y\). Then \[ \int_0^1 \frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{ds} \eta(e_s D_{\mathbb S^1\times Y} e_s)ds = \int_Y \hat{A}(Y) \wedge \text{Tch}_\bullet(U_s). \] The second result in this paper is the following. If \(Y\) is the boundary of a spin manifold, then \(\eta(e_s D_{\mathbb S^1\times Y} e_s)\) coincides with the invariant \(\eta(Y,U_s)\) defined by \textit{X. Dai} and \textit{W. Zhang} [J. Funct. Anal., 238, No. 1, 1--26 (2006; Zbl 1114.58011)]. The same technique is used to obtain the third result. Let \(M\) be an odd dimensional spin manifold with boundary \(\partial M\). Let \(U, V\in U_n(C^\infty(M))\) be two unitaries over \(M\). Let \((u_s)_{0\leq s \leq 1} \in U_n(C^\infty(\partial M))\) be a smooth path of unitaries over \(\partial M\) such that \(u_0 = U|_{\partial M} \) and \(u_1 = V|_{\partial M}\). Let \(T_U\) and \(T_V\) be the Toeplitz operator on \(M\) with respect to \(U\) and \(V\). If \(U\) and \(V\) are constant along the normal direction near the boundary, then \[ \text{Ind}_{[D]}( [U,V, u_s]) = \text{Ind}(T_V) - \text{Ind}(T_U) +\text{SF} (u_s^{-1}D_{[0,1]} u_s; P_0^{u_s}) \] where \(\text{SF} (u_s^{-1}D_{[0,1]} u_s; P_0^{u_s})\) is the spectral flow of the path of elliptic operators \((u_s^{-1}D_{[0,1]} u_s; P_0^{u_s})\), \(s\in [0, 1]\), with Atiyah-Patodi-Singer type boundary conditions determined by \(P_0^{u_s}\). The author points out: ``It should be mentioned that, although the objects we work with are from classical geometry, the spirit of the proofs is very much inspired by methods from noncommutative geometry.''