The first edition of this book presented simple proofs of the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem for Dirac operators on compact Riemannian manifolds and its generalizations (due to the authors and J. -M. Bismut), using an explicit geometric construction of the heat kernel of a generalized Dirac operator; the new edition makes this popular book available to students and researchers in an attractive softcover. The first four chapters could be used as the text for a graduate course on the applications of linear elliptic operators in differential geometry and the only prerequisites are a familiarity with basic differential geometry. The next four chapters discuss the equivariant index theorem, and include a useful introduction to equivariant differential forms. The last two chapters give a proof, in the spirit of the book, of Bismut's Local Family Index Theorem for Dirac operators.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
1 Background on Differential Geometry. - 1. 1 Fibre Bundles and Connections. - 1. 2 Riemannian Manifolds. - 1. 3 Superspaces. - 1. 4 Superconnections. - 1. 5 Characteristic Classes. - 1. 6 The Euler and Thorn Classes. - 2 Asymptotic Expansion of the Heat Kernel. - 2. 1 Differential Operators. - 2. 2 The Heat Kernel on Euclidean Space. - 2. 3 Heat Kernels. - 2. 4 Construction of the Heat Kernel. - 2. 5 The Formal Solution. - 2. 6 The Trace of the Heat Kernel. - 2. 7 Heat Kernels Depending on a Parameter. - 3 Clifford Modules and Dirac Operators. - 3. 1 The Clifford Algebra. - 3. 2 Spinors. - 3. 3 Dirac Operators. - 3. 4 Index of Dirac Operators. - 3. 5 The Lichnerowicz Formula. - 3. 6 Some Examples of Clifford Modules. - 4 Index Density of Dirac Operators. - 4. 1 The Local Index Theorem. - 4. 2 Mehler s Formula. - 4. 3 Calculation of the Index Density. - 5 The Exponential Map and the Index Density. - 5. 1 Jacobian of the Exponential Map on Principal Bundles. - 5. 2 The Heat Kernel of a Principal Bundle. - 5. 3 Calculus with Grassmann and Clifford Variables. - 5. 4 The Index of Dirac Operators. - 6 The Equivariant Index Theorem. - 6. 1 The Equivariant Index of Dirac Operators. - 6. 2 The Atiyah-Bott Fixed Point Formula. - 6. 3 Asymptotic Expansion of the Equivariant Heat Kernel. - 6. 4 The Local Equivariant Index Theorem. - 6. 5 Geodesic Distance on a Principal Bundle. - 6. 6 The heat kernel of an equivariant vector bundle. - 6. 7 Proof of Proposition 6. 13. - 7 Equivariant Differential Forms. - 7. 1 Equivariant Characteristic Classes. - 7. 2 The Localization Formula. - 7. 3 Bott s Formulas for Characteristic Numbers. - 7. 4 Exact Stationary Phase Approximation. - 7. 5 The Fourier Transform of Coadjoint Orbits. - 7. 6 Equivariant Cohomology and Families. - 7. 7 The Bott Class. - 8 The Kirillov Formula for the Equivariant Index. - 8. 1 The Kirillov Formula. - 8. 2 The Weyl and Kirillov Character Formulas. - 8. 3 The Heat Kernel Proof of the Kirillov Formula. - 9 The Index Bundle. - 9. 1 The Index Bundle in Finite Dimensions. - 9. 2 The Index Bundle of a Family of Dirac Operators. - 9. 3 The Chern Character of the Index Bundle. - 9. 4 The Equivariant Index and the Index Bundle. - 9. 5 The Case of Varying Dimension. - 9. 6 The Zeta-Function of a Laplacian. - 9. 7 The Determinant Line Bundle. - 10 The Family Index Theorem. - 10. 1 Riemannian Fibre Bundles. - 10. 2 Clifford Modules on Fibre Bundles. - 10. 3 The Bismut Superconnection. - 10. 4 The Family Index Density. - 10. 5 The Transgression Formula. - 10. 6 The Curvature of the Determinant Line Bundle. - 10. 7 The Kirillov Formula and Bismut s Index Theorem. - References. - List of Notation.