The Atiyah-Singer index formula for subelliptic operators on contact manifolds. II. (Q974075)

The present paper is a sequel to part I [\textit{E. van Erp}, Ann. Math. (2) 171, No.~3, 1647--1681 (2010; Zbl 1206.19004)]. There, an index theorem of the form \[ \mathrm{Index}(P)=\int_{TM}\mathrm{Ch}[\sigma_H(P)] \wedge \mathrm{Td}(M) \] for a subelliptic operator \(P\) on a closed odd-dimensional contact manifold \(M\) was proven. However, the element \([\sigma_H(P)] \in K^0(T^*M)\) was defined in terms of an abstract isomorphism and not given explicitly. Here the author constructs a symbol class \([\sigma_H(P)] \in K^1(M)\) in a different way: The operator \(P\) defines for each \(m \in M\) a model operator \(P_m\) given by a distribution on a Heisenberg group \(G_m\). (These Heisenberg groups form the tangent groupoid \(T_HM\).) Via the Bargmann-Fok representation \(\pi_m\) the bundle of Heisenberg groups is represented on a bundle of Hilbert spaces \(V^{BF}\). The automorphism \(a(P)_m:=\pi_m(P_m)\pi_m(P_m^{\mathrm{op}})^{-1}\) on \(V_m^{BF}\) is invertible and \(a(P)_m-1\) is compact. One gets a well-defined element \([a(P),V^{BF}] \in K_1(C(M))\cong K^1(M)\). In order to obtain an element directly in topological \(K\)-theory, the author constructs a finite-dimensional approximation of \(a(P)\): If \(H\) is the hyperplane bundle of the contact manifold endowed with a compatible almost complex structure, define for \(N \in {\mathbb N}\) the bundle \[ V^N=\bigoplus_{j=0}^N \mathrm{Sym}^j H^{1,0}\subset V^{BF} \] and let \(e_N:V^{BF} \to V^N\) be the projection. For \(N\) large one has \([e_N a(P)e_N,V^N]=[a(P),V^{BF}]\). The main result of the present paper says that for \(N\) large \[ \mathrm{Index}(P)=\int_{TM}\mathrm{Ch}[e_N a(P)e_N,V^N] \wedge \mathrm{Td}(M). \] The proof is based on the groupoid methods developed in the previous paper. It is first done for Hermite operators, from which the general case is derived. On the way, an Atiyah-Singer type exact sequence for the Heisenberg calculus is proven. The index theorem generalizes Boutet de Mouvel's index theorem for Toeplitz operators on contact manifolds and (partially unpublished) results of Epstein and Melrose, among them the index theorem for Hermite operators.