arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Alan Carey.
In this paper we outline a recent construction of a Chern-Weil isomorphism for the equivariant Brauer group of $\mathbb R^n$ actions on a principal torus bundle, where the target for this isomorphism is a "dimensionally reduced" \vCech cohomology group. Using this latter group, we demonstrate how to extend the induced algebra construction to algebras with a non-trivial bundle as their spectrum.
One may trace the idea that spectral flow should be given as the integral of a one form back to the 1974 Vancouver ICM address of I.M. Singer. Our main theorem gives analytic formulae for the spectral flow along a norm differentiable path of self-adjoint bounded Breuer-Fredholm operators in a semi-finite von Neumann algebra. These formulae have a geometric interpretation which derives from the proof. Namely we define a family of Banach submanifolds of all bounded self-adjoint Breuer-Fredholm operators and on each submanifold define global one forms whose integral on a norm differentiable path contained in the submanifold calculates the spectral flow along this path. We emphasise that our methods do not give a single globally defined one form on the self adjoint Breuer- Fredholms whose integral along all paths is spectral flow rather, as the choice of the plural `forms' in the title suggests, we need a family of such one forms in order to confirm Singer's idea. The original context for this result concerned paths of unbounded self-adjoint Fredholm operators. We therefore prove analogous formulae for spectral flow in the unbounded case as well. The proof is a synthesis of key contributions by previous authors, whom we acknowledge in detail in the introduction, combined with an additional important recent advance in the differential calculus of functions of non-commuting operators.
We continue an investigation initiated by Consani-Marcolli of the relation between the algebraic geometry of p-adic Mumford curves and the noncommutative geometry of graph C*-algebras associated to the action of the uniformizing p-adic Schottky group on the Bruhat-Tits tree. We reconstruct invariants of Mumford curves related to valuations of generators of the associated Schottky group, by developing a graphical theory for KMS weights on the associated graph C*-algebra, and using modular index theory for KMS weights. We give explicit examples of the construction of graph weights for low genus Mumford curves. We then show that the theta functions of Mumford curves, and the induced currents on the Bruhat-Tits tree, define functions that generalize the graph weights. We show that such inhomogeneous graph weights can be constructed from spectral flows, and that one can reconstruct theta functions from such graphical data.
We review the recent construction of semifinite spectral triples for graph C^*-algebras. These examples have inspired many other developments and we review some of these such as the relation between the semifinite index and the Kasparov product, examples of noncommutative manifolds, and an index theorem in twisted cyclic theory using a KMS state.
Let G be one of the local gauge groups C(X,U(n)), C^\infty(X,U(n)), C(X,SU(n)) or C^\infty(X,SU(n)) where X is a compact Riemannian manifold. We observe that G has a nontrivial group topology, coarser than its natural topology, w.r.t. which it is amenable, viz the relative weak topology of C(X,M(n)). This topology seems more useful than other known amenable topologies for G. We construct a simple fermionic model containing an action of G, continuous w.r.t. this amenable topology.
We establish a surgery formula for 3-dimensional Seiberg-Witten monopoles under (+1) Dehn surgery on a knot in a homology 3-sphere. (substantial revision)
We consider the canonical quantization of fermions on an odd dimensional manifold with boundary, with respect to a family of elliptic hermitean boundary conditions for the Dirac hamiltonian. We show that there is a topological obstruction to a smooth quantization as a function of the boundary conditions. The obstruction is given in terms of a gerbe and its Dixmier-Douady class is evaluated.
This paper reviews recent work on a new geometric object called a bundle gerbe and discusses some new examples arising in quantum field theory. One application is to an Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theory construction of the bundle of fermionic Fock spaces parametrized by vector potentials in odd space dimensions and a proof that this leads in a simple manner to the known Schwinger terms (Mickelsson-Faddeev cocycle) for the gauge group action. This gives an explicit computation of the Dixmier-Douady class of the associated bundle gerbe. The method works also in other cases of fermions in external fields (external gravitational field, for example) provided that the APS theorem can be applied; however, we have worked out the details only in the case of vector potentials. Another example, in which the bundle gerbe curvature plays a role, arises from the WZW model on Riemann surfaces. A further example is the `existence of string structures' question. We conclude by showing how global Hamiltonian anomalies fit within this framework.
We give an Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theory construction of the bundle of fermionic Fock spaces parametrized by vector potentials in odd space dimensions and prove that this leads in a simple manner to the known Schwinger terms (Faddeev-Mickelsson cocycle) for the gauge group action. We relate the APS construction to the bundle gerbe approach discussed recently by Carey and Murray, including an explicit computation of the Dixmier-Douady class. An advantage of our method is that it can be applied whenever one has a form of the APS theorem at hand, as in the case of fermions in an external gravitational field.