A Poincaré-Hopf theorem in the spirit of Pugh is proven for compact orbifolds with boundary. The theorem relates the index sum of a smooth vector field in generic contact with the boundary orbifold to the Euler-Satake characteristic of the orbifold and a boundary term. The boundary term is expressed as a sum of Euler characteristics of tangency and exit-region orbifolds. As a corollary, we express the index sum of the vector field induced on the inertia orbifold to the Euler characteristics of the associated underlying topological spaces.
Recently, Atiyah and LeBrun proved versions of the Gauss-Bonnet and Hirzebruch signature Theorems for metrics with edge-cone singularities in dimension four, which they applied to obtain an inequality of Hitchin-Thorpe type for Einstein edge-cone metrics. Interestingly, many natural examples of edge-cone metrics in dimension four are anti-self-dual (or self-dual depending upon choice of orientation). On such a space there is an important elliptic complex called the anti-self-dual deformation complex, whose index gives crucial information about the local structure of the moduli space of anti-se…
In this paper we prove a relative index theorem for pairs of generalized Dirac operators on orbifolds which are the same at infinity. This generalizes to orbifolds a celebrated theorem of Gromov and Lawson.
The goal of this work is to generalize the Gauss-Bonnet and Poincaré-Hopf Theorems to the case of orbifolds with boundary. We present two such generalizations, the first in the spirit of Satake. In this case, the local data (i.e. integral of the curvature in the case of the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem and the index of the vector field in the case of the Poincaré-Hopf Theorem) is related to Satake's orbifold Euler characteristic, a rational number which depends on the orbifold structure. For the second pair of generalizations, we use the Chen-Ruan orbifold cohomology to express the local data in a way…
The twisted Connes-Moscovici higher index theorem is generalized to the case of good orbifolds. The higher index is shown to be a rational number, and in fact non-integer in specific examples of 2-orbifolds. This results in a non-commutative geometry model that predicts the occurrence of fractional quantum numbers in the Hall effect on the hyperbolic plane.
We study a class of localized indices for the Dirac type operators on a complete Riemannian orbifold, where a discrete group acts properly, co-compactly and isometrically. These localized indices, generalizing the $L^2$-index of Atiyah, are obtained by taking certain traces of the higher index for the Dirac type operators along conjugacy classes of the discrete group. Applying the local index technique, we also obtain an $L^2$-version of the Lefschetz fixed point formula for orbifolds. These cohomological formulae for the localized indices give rise to a class of refined topological invariants…
An index theorem for the anti-self-dual deformation complex on anti-self-dual orbifolds with singularities conjugate to ADE-type is proved. In 1988, Claude Lebrun gave examples of scalar-flat Kähler ALE metrics with negative mass, on the total space of the bundle $\mathcal{O}(-n)$ over $S^2$. A corollary of this index theorem is that the moduli space of anti-self-dual ALE metrics near each of these metrics has dimension at least $4n-12$, and thus for $n \geq 4$ the LeBrun metrics admit a plethora of non-trivial anti-self-dual deformations.
For a proper, cocompact action by a locally compact group of the form $H \times G$, with $H$ compact, we define an $H \times G$-equivariant index of $H$-transversally elliptic operators, which takes values in $KK_*(C^*H, C^*G)$. This simultaneously generalises the Baum--Connes analytic assembly map, Atiyah's index of transversally elliptic operators, and Kawasaki's orbifold index. This index also generalises the assembly map to elliptic operators on orbifolds. In the special case where the manifold in question is a real semisimple Lie group, $G$ is a cocompact lattice and $H$ is a maximal comp…
We study an index of a transversal Dirac operator on an odd-dimensional manifold $X$ with locally free $\mathbb{S}^1$-action. One difficulty of using heat kernel method lies in the understanding of the asymptotic expansion as $t\to 0^+$. By a probabilistic approach via the Feynman-Kac formula, the transversal heat kernel on $X$ can be linked to the ordinary heat kernel for functions on the orbifold $M=X/\mathbb{S}^1$ which is more tractable. After some technical results for a uniform bound estimate as $t\to 0^+$, we are reduced from the transversal, orbifold situation to the classical situatio…
This paper, together with Part II, expands the results of math.DG/9803051. In Part I we study the twisted index theory of elliptic operators on orbifold covering spaces of compact good orbifolds, which are invariant under a projective action of the orbifold fundamental group. We apply these results to obtain qualitative results on real and complex hyperbolic spaces in 2 and 4 dimensions, related to generalizations of the Bethe-Sommerfeld conjecture and the Ten Martini Problem, on the spectrum of self adjoint elliptic operators which are invariant under a projective action of a discrete cocompa…
Using the Selberg trace formula, we show that for a hyperbolic 2-orbifold, the spectrum of the Laplacian acting on functions determines, and is determined by, the following data: the volume; the total length of the mirror boundary; the number of conepoints of each order, counting a mirror corner as half a conepoint; and the number of primitive closed geodesics of each length and orientability class, counting a geodesic running along the boundary as half orientation-preserving and half orientation-reversing, and discounting imprimitive geodesics appropriately. This implies that Laplace-isospect…
This paper is the continuation of Part I, expanding previous results of math.DG/9803051. This paper uses techniques in noncommutative geometry as developed by Alain Connes in order to study the twisted higher index theory of elliptic operators on orbifold covering spaces of compact good orbifolds, which are invariant under a projective action of the orbifold fundamental group. We also compute the range of the higher cyclic traces on $K$-theory for cocompact Fuchsian groups, which is then applied to determine the range of values of the Connes-Kubo Hall conductance in the discrete model of the q…
Taking an elementary and straightforward approach, we develop the concept of a regular value for a smooth map f: O -> P between smooth orbifolds O and P. We show that Sard's theorem holds and that the inverse image of a regular value is a smooth full suborbifold of O. We also study some constraints that the existence of a smooth orbifold map imposes on local isotropy groups. As an application, we prove a Borsuk no retraction theorem for compact orbifolds with boundary and some obstructions to the existence of real-valued orbifold maps from local model orbifold charts.
For a closed Riemannian orbifold $O$, we compare the spectra of the Laplacian, acting on functions or differential forms, to the Neumann spectra of the orbifold with boundary given by a domain $U$ in $O$ whose boundary is a smooth manifold. Generalizing results of several authors, we prove that the metric of $O$ can be perturbed to ensure that the first $N$ eigenvalues of $U$ and $O$ are arbitrarily close to one another. This involves a generalization of the Hodge decomposition to the case of orbifolds with manifold boundary. Using these results, we study the behavior of the Laplace spectrum o…
An index theorem for the anti-self-dual deformation complex on anti-self-dual orbifolds with cyclic quotient singularities is proved. We present two applications of this theorem. The first is to compute the dimension of the deformation space of the Calderbank-Singer scalar-flat Kahler toric ALE spaces. A corollary of this is that, except for the Eguchi-Hanson metric, all of these spaces admit non-toric anti-self-dual deformations, thus yielding many new examples of anti-self-dual ALE spaces. For our second application, we compute the dimension of the deformation space of the canonical Bochner-…
We consider how the geometry and topology of a compact $n$-dimensional Riemannian orbifold with boundary relates to its Steklov spectrum. In two dimensions, motivated by work of A. Girouard, L. Parnovski, I. Polterovich and D. Sher in the manifold setting, we compute the precise asymptotics of the Steklov spectrum in terms of only boundary data. As a consequence, we prove that the Steklov spectrum detects the presence and number of orbifold singularities on the boundary of an orbisurface and it detects the number each of smooth and singular boundary components. Moreover, we find that the Stekl…
We introduce a complete obstruction to the existence of nonvanishing vector fields on a closed orbifold $Q$. Motivated by the inertia orbifold, the space of multi-sectors, and the generalized orbifold Euler characteristics, we construct for each finitely generated group $Γ$ an orbifold called the space of $Γ$-sectors of $Q$. The obstruction occurs as the Euler-Satake characteristics of the $Γ$-sectors for an appropriate choice of $Γ$; in the case that $Q$ is oriented, this obstruction is expressed as a cohomology class, the $Γ$-Euler-Satake class. We also acquire a complete obstruction in the …
