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Jonathan Rosenberg

Publications and source records attributed to Jonathan Rosenberg.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

T-duality for torus bundles via noncommutative topology

It is known that the T-dual of a circle bundle with H-flux (given by a Neveu-Schwarz 3-form) is the T-dual circle bundle with dual H-flux. However, it is also known that torus bundles with H-flux do not necessarily have a T-dual which is a torus bundle. A big puzzle has been to explain these mysterious "missing T-duals.'' Here we show that this problem is resolved using noncommutative topology. It turns out that every principal 2-torus-bundle with H-flux does indeed have a T-dual, but in the missing cases (which we characterize), the T-dual is non-classical and is a bundle of noncommutative tori. The duality comes with an isomorphism of twisted K-theories, just as in the classical case. The isomorphism of twisted cohomology which one gets in the classical case is replaced by an isomorphism of twisted cyclic homology.

hep-th↗

Equivariant Euler characteristics and K-homology Euler classes for proper cocompact G-manifolds

Let G be a countable discrete group and let M be a smooth proper cocompact G-manifold without boundary. The Euler operator defines via Kasparov theory an element, called the equivariant Euler class, in the equivariant K-homology of M. The universal equivariant Euler characteristic of M, which lives in a group U^G(M), counts the equivariant cells of M, taking the component structure of the various fixed point sets into account. We construct a natural homomorphism from U^G(M) to the equivariant KO-homology of M. The main result of this paper says that this map sends the universal equivariant Euler characteristic to the equivariant Euler class. In particular this shows that there are no `higher' equivariant Euler characteristics. We show that, rationally, the equivariant Euler class carries the same information as the collection of the orbifold Euler characteristics of the components of the L-fixed point sets M^L, where L runs through the finite cyclic subgroups of G. However, we give an example of an action of the symmetric group S_3 on the 3-sphere for which the equivariant Euler class has order 2, so there is also some torsion information.

math.KT↗

The equivariant Lefschetz fixed point theorem for proper cocompact G-manifolds

Suppose one is given a discrete group G, a cocompact proper G-manifold M, and a G-self-map f of M. Then we introduce the equivariant Lefschetz class of f, which is globally defined in terms of cellular chain complexes, and the local equivariant Lefschetz class of f, which is locally defined in terms of fixed point data. We prove the equivariant Lefschetz fixed point theorem, which says that these two classes agree. As a special case, we prove an equivariant Poincare-Hopf Theorem, computing the universal equivariant Euler characteristic in terms of the zeros of an equivariant vector field, and also obtain an orbifold Lefschetz fixed point theorem. Finally, we prove a realization theorem for universal equivariant Euler characteristics.

math.AT↗

Groupoid C*-algebras and index theory on manifolds with singularities

The simplest case of a manifold with singularities is a manifold M with boundary, together with an identification of the boundary with a product M1 x P, where P is a fixed manifold. The associated singular space is obtained by collapsing P to a point. When P = Z/k or S^1, we show how to attach to such a space a noncommutative C*-algebra that captures the extra structure. We then use this C*-algebra to give a new proof of the Freed-Melrose Z/k-index theorem and a proof of an index theorem for manifolds with S^1 singularities. Our proofs apply to the real as well as to the complex case. Applications are given to the study of metrics of positive scalar curvature.

math.DG↗

The Yamabe invariant for non-simply connected manifolds

The Yamabe invariant is an invariant of a closed smooth manifold defined using conformal geometry and the scalar curvature. Recently, Petean showed that the Yamabe invariant is non-negative for all closed simply connected manifolds of dimension $\ge 5$. We extend this to show that Yamabe invariant is non-negative for all closed manifolds of dimension $\ge 5$ with fundamental group of odd order having all Sylow subgroups abelian. The main new geometric input is a way of studying the Yamabe invariant on Toda brackets. A similar method of proof shows that all closed manifolds of dimension $\ge 5$ with fundamental group of odd order having all Sylow subgroups elementary abelian, with non-spin universal cover, admit metrics of positive scalar curvature, once one restricts to the ``complement'' of manifolds whose homology classes are ``toral.'' The exceptional toral homology classes only exist in dimensions not exceeding the ``rank'' of the fundamental group, so this proves important cases of the Gromov-Lawson-Rosenberg Conjecture once the dimension is sufficiently large.

math.DG↗

The G-Signature Theorem Revisited

In a strengthening of the G-Signature Theorem of Atiyah and Singer, we compute, at least in principle (modulo certain torsion of exponent dividing a power of the order of G), the class in equivariant K-homology of the signature operator on a G-manifold, localized at a prime idea of R(G), in terms of the classes in non-equivariant K-homology of the signature operators on fixed sets. The main innovations are that the calculation takes (at least some) torsion into account, and that we are able to extend the calculation to some non-smooth actions.

math.DG↗

The K-homology class of the Euler characteristic operator is trivial

On any manifold M^n, the de Rham operator D=d+d^* (with respect to a complete Riemannian metric), with the grading of forms by parity of degree, gives rise by Kasparov theory to a class [D] in KO_0(M), which when M is closed maps to the Euler characteristic chi(M) in KO_0(point) = Z. The purpose of this note is to give a quick proof of the (perhaps unfortunate) fact that [D] is as trivial as it could be subject to this constraint. More precisely, if M is connected, [D] lies in the image of Z = KO_0(point) in KO_0(M) (induced by the inclusion of a basepoint).

math.OA↗

Rigidity of K-theory under deformation quantization

Quantization, at least in some formulations, involves replacing some algebra of observables by a (more non-commutative) deformed algebra. In view of the fundamental role played by K-theory in non-commutative geometry and topology, it is of interest to ask to what extent K-theory remains "rigid" under this process. We show that some positive results can be obtained using ideas of Gabber, Gillet-Thomason, and Suslin. From this we derive that the algebraic K-theory with finite coefficients of a deformation quantization of the functions on a compact symplectic manifold, forgetting the topology, recovers the topological K-theory of the manifold.

q-alg↗

A ``stable'' version of the Gromov-Lawson conjecture

We discuss a conjecture of Gromov and Lawson, later modified by Rosenberg, concerning the existence of metrics of positive scalar curvature. It says that a closed spin manifold $M$ of dimension $n\ge 5$ has such a metric if and only if the index of a suitable ``Dirac" operator in $KO_n(C^* (π_1(M)))$, the real $K$-theory of the group $C^*$-algebra of the fundamental group of $M$, vanishes. It is known that the vanishing of the index is necessary for existence of a positive scalar curvature metric on $M$, but this is known to be a sufficient condition only if $π_1(M)$ is the trivial group, $\Bbb Z/2$, an odd order cyclic group, or one of a fairly small class of torsion-free groups. \par We note that the groups $KO_n(C^*(π))$ are periodic in $n$ with period $8$, whereas there is no obvious periodicity in the original geometric problem. This leads us to introduce a ``stable'' version of the Gromov-Lawson conjecture, which makes the weaker statement that the product of $M$ with enough copies of the ``Bott manifold" $B$ has a positive scalar curvature metric if and only if the index of the Dirac operator on $M$ vanishes. (Here $B$ is a simply connected $8$-manifold which represents the periodicity element in $KO_8(pt)$.) We prove the stable Gromov-Lawson conjecture for all spin manifolds with finite fundamental group and for many spin manifolds with infinite fundamental group.

dg-ga↗