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Richard Melrose

Publications and source records attributed to Richard Melrose.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Microlocal propagation near radial points and scattering for symbolic potentials of order zero

In this paper, the scattering and spectral theory of $H=Δ_g+V$ is developed, where $Δ_g$ is the Laplacian with respect to a scattering metric $g$ on a compact manifold $X$ with boundary and $V\in C^\infty(X)$ is real; this extends our earlier results in the two-dimensional case. Included in this class of operators are perturbations of the Laplacian on Euclidean space by potentials homogeneous of degree zero near infinity. Much of the particular structure of geometric scattering theory can be traced to the occurrence of radial points for the underlying classical system; a general framework for microlocal analysis at these points forms the main part of the paper.

math.AP↗

Scattering configuration spaces

For a compact manifold with boundary $X$ we introduce the $n$-fold scattering stretched product $X^n_{\text{sc}}$ which is a compact manifold with corners for each $n,$ coinciding with the previously known cases for $n=2,3.$ It is constructed by iterated blow up of boundary faces and boundary faces of multi-diagonals in $X^n.$ The resulting space is shown to map smoothly, by a b-fibration, covering the usual projection, to the lower stretched products. It is anticipated that this manifold with corners, or at least its combinatorial structure, is a universal model for phenomena on asymptotically flat manifolds in which particle clusters emerge at infinity. In particular this is the case for magnetic monopoles on $\mathbb{R}^3$ in which case these spaces are closely related to compactifications of the moduli spaces with the boundary faces mapping to lower charge idealized moduli spaces.

math.DG↗

Generalized backscattering and the Lax-Phillips transform

Using the free-space translation representation (modified Radon transform) of Lax and Phillips in odd dimensions, it is shown that the generalized backscattering transform (so outgoing angle $ω=Sθ$ in terms of the incoming angle with $S$ orthogonal and $\Id-S$ invertible) may be further restricted to give an entire, globally Fredholm, operator on appropriate Sobolev spaces of potentials with compact support. As a corollary we show that the modified backscattering map is a local isomorphism near elements of a generic set of potentials.

math.AP↗

Star products and local line bundles

The notion of a local line bundle on a manifold, classified by 2-cohomology with real coefficients, is introduced. The twisting of pseudodifferential operators by such a line bundle leads to an algebroid with elliptic elements with real-valued index, given by a twisted variant of the Atiyah-Singer index formula. Using ideas of Boutet de Monvel and Guillemin the corresponding twisted Toeplitz algebroid on any compact symplectic manifold is shown to yield the star products of Lecomte and DeWilde ([MR84g:17014]) see also Fedosov's construction in [MR92k:58267]. This also shows that the trace on the star algebra is identified with the residue trace of Wodzicki and Guillemin

math.DG↗

Boundaries, eta invariant and the determinant bundle

Cobordism invariance shows that the index, in K-theory, of a family of pseudodifferential operators on the boundary of a fibration vanishes if the symbol family extends to be elliptic across the whole fibration. For Dirac operators with spectral boundary condition, Dai and Freed \cite{dai-freed1} gave an explicit version of this at the level of the determinant bundle. Their result, that the eta invariant of the interior family trivializes the determinant bundle of the boundary family, is extended here to the wider context of pseudodifferential families of cusp type.

math.DG↗

Periodicity and the determinant bundle

The infinite matrix `Schwartz' group $G^{-\infty}$ is a classifying group for odd K-theory and carries Chern classes in each odd dimension, generating the cohomology. These classes are closely related to the Fredholm determinant on $G^{-\infty}.$ We show that while the higher (even, Schwartz) loop groups of $G^{-\infty},$ again classifying for odd K-theory, do \emph{not} carry multiplicative determinants generating the first Chern class, `dressed' extensions, corresponding to a star product, do carry such functions. We use these to discuss Bott periodicity for the determinant bundle and the eta invariant. In so doing we relate two distinct extensions of the eta invariant, to self-adjoint elliptic operators and to elliptic invertible suspended families and show that the corresponding $τ$ invariant is a determinant in this sense.

math.DG↗

Families Index for Pseudodifferential Operators on Manifolds with Boundary

An analytic index is defined for a family of cusp pseudodifferential operators, $P_b,$ on a fibration with fibres which are compact manifolds with boundaries, provided the family is elliptic and has invertible indicial family at the boundary. In fact there is always a perturbation $Q_b$ by a family of cusp operators of order $-\infty$ such that each $P_b+Q_b$ is invertible. Thus any elliptic family of symbols has a realization as an invertible family of cusp pseudodifferential operators, which is a form of the cobordism invariance of the index. A crucial role is played by the weak contractibility of the group of cusp smoothing operators on a compact manifold with non-trivial boundary and the associated exact sequence of classifying spaces of odd and even K-theory.

math.DG↗

Propagation of singularities for the wave equation on conic manifolds

For the wave equation associated to the Laplacian on a compact manifold with boundary with a conic metric (with respect to which the boundary is metrically a point) the propagation of singularities through the boundary is analyzed. Under appropriate regularity assumptions the diffracted, non-direct, wave produced by the boundary is shown to have Sobolev regularity greater than the incoming wave.

math.AP↗