Basic signature and applications (Q732750)

This paper generalizes the signature product formula \(\sigma(M\times N)=\sigma(M)\sigma(N)\) for compact, oriented, smooth manifolds \(M\) and \(N\) to orthogonal foliations. Specifically if \(M\) is a compact, oriented Riemannian manifold and \(\mathcal F_1\) and \(\mathcal F_2\) are orthogonal Riemannian foliations on \(M\) with codimensions \(4n_1\) and \(4n_2\) respectively, then \(\sigma(M)=\sigma(\mathcal F_1)\sigma(\mathcal F_2)\), where \(\sigma(\mathcal F_i)\) is the basic signature of \(\mathcal F_i\).