Subelliptic Spin_c Dirac operators, III The Atiyah-Weinstein conjecture

Abstract

In this paper we show that there is a well defined modified dbar-Neumann problem for a spin_c manifold with a strictly pseudoconvex boundary (in the contact geometry sense). We show that the index of the associated boundary value problem can be computed as the relative index between the Calderon projector on the boundary and the projector defining the boundary condition. To make sense of this statement we need to develop a considerable extension of the classical notion of a Fredholm pair of subspaces of a Hilbert space. We call this the theory of "tame Fredholm pairs;" it is presented in the appendix to the paper. Using these tools, we give a proof of a conjecture of Atiyah and Weinstein for the index of a Fourier integral operator defined by a contact transformation between the boundaries of two strictly pseudoconvex manifolds. In fact, we prove a much more general result expressing the relative index between two generalized Szego projectors as the index of a Dirac operator on a compact "glued" space with correction terms coming from boundary value problems. The Atiyah-Weinstein conjecture is a simple special case of this general formula. Special cases of this result were earlier proved by Epstein and Melrose, and Leichtnam, Nest and Tsygan. Using our general formula for relative indices, we also obtain a formula for the relative index between two Szego projectors defined by embeddable CR-structures on a contact three manifold. Using this formula, we reduce a conjecture about the boundedness of these relative indices to a conjecture of A. Stipsicz on the boundedness of the Euler characteristics and signatures of Stein manifolds with a given contact boundary. This latter conjecture has been proved in many cases of interest.