Let $G\subset GL(V)$ be a linear Lie group with Lie algebra $\frak g$ and let $A(\frak g)^G$ be the subalgebra of $G$-invariant elements of the associative supercommutative algebra $A(\frak g)= S(\frak g^*)\otimes \La(V^*)$. To any $G$-structure $π:P\to M$ with a connection $ω$ we associate a homomorphism $μ_ω:A(\frak g)^G\to Ω(M)$. The differential forms $μ_ω(f)$ for $f\in A(\frak g)^G$ which are associated to the $G$-structure $π$ can be used to construct Lagrangians. If $ω$ has no torsion the differential forms $μ_ω(f)$ are closed and define characteristic classes of a $G$-structure. The induced homomorphism $μ'_ω:A(\g)^G\to H^*(M)$ does not depend on the choice of the torsionfree connection $ω$ and it is the natural generalization of the Chern Weil homomorphism.
We introduce Dolbeault cohomology valued characteristic classes of Higgs bundles over complex manifolds. Flat vector bundles have characteristic classes lying in odd degree de Rham cohomology and a theorem of Reznikov says that these must vanish in degrees three and higher over compact Kähler manifolds. We provide a simple and independent proof of Reznikov's result and show that our characteristic classes of Higgs bundles and the characteristic classes of flat vector bundles are compatible via the nonabelian Hodge theorem.
This paper studies the relationship between the sections and the Chern or Pontrjagin classes of a vector bundle by the theory of connection. Our results are natural generalizations of the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem.
Almost Lie algebroids are generalizations of Lie algebroids, when the Jacobiator is not necessary null. A simple example is given, for which a Lie algebroid bracket or a Courant bundle is not possible for the given anchor, but a natural extension of the bundle and the new anchor allows a Lie algebroid bracket. A cohomology and related characteristic classes of an almost Lie algebroid are also constructed. We prove that these characteristic classes are all pull-backs of the characteristic classes of the base space, as in the case of a Lie algebroid.
For a local Lie group M we define odd order cohomology classes. The first class is an obstruction to globalizability of the local Lie group. The third class coincides with Godbillon-Vey class in a particular case. These classes are secondary as they emerge when curvature vanishes.
We develop a framework to compute characteristic classes and their forms in the computer algebra system SageMath using symbolic calculus. In order to do this, we make use of the Chern-Weil approach in which characteristic classes of vector bundles in the de Rham cohomology are obtained by arbitrary connections. Along the way, we implement the notion of vector bundles, their sections and connections as well as mixed differential forms in SageMath. We conclude by discussing some application examples exposed in Jupyter Notebook and eventually address the issue of computational cost.
This paper surveys topological results obtained from characteristic classes built from the two types of traces on the algebra of pseudodifferential operators of nonpositive order. The main results are the construction of a universal $\hat A$-polynomial and Chern character that control the $S^1$-index theorem for all circle actions on a fixed vector bundle over a manifold, and $|π_1({\rm Diff}(M^5))| = \infty$, for ${\rm Diff}(M^5)$ the diffeomorphism group of circle bundles $M^5$ with large first Chern class over projective algebraic Kaehler surfaces.
We define the notion of characteristic classes for supermanifolds endowed with a homological vector field $Q$. These take values in the cohomology of the Lie derivative operator $L_Q$ acting on arbitrary tensor fields. We formulate a classification theorem for intrinsic characteristic classes and give their explicit description.
We derive simple explicit formulas for the character of a cycle in the Connes' (b,B)-bicomplex of cyclic cohomology and give applications to the Fredholm modules and equivariant characteristic classes.
In this paper, we introduce six axioms for relative Bott-Chern secondary characteristic classes and prove the uniqueness and existence theorem for them. Such a work provides us a natural way to understand and hence to prove the arithmetic Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem.
We extend R. Fernandes' construction of secondary characteristic classes of a Lie algebroid to the case of a base-preserving morphism between two Lie algebroids. Like in the case of a Lie algebroid, the simplest characteristic class of our construction coincides with the modular class of the morphism.
This note shows the compatibility of the differential geometric and the topological formulations of equivariant characteristic classes for a compact connected Lie group action.
The purpose of this paper is to both survey and offer some new results on the non-triviality of the characteristic classes of Riemannian foliations. We give examples where the primary Pontrjagin classes are all linearly independent. The independence of the secondary classes is also discussed, along with their total variation. Finally, we give a negative solution of a conjecture that the map of classifying spaces $\FRGq \to \FGq$ is trivial for codimension $q > 1$.
It is shown that the characteristic classes of foliations that were defined by Losik and that take values in the de~Rham cohomology of the space of infinite order frames over the leaf space may be mapped to the characteristic classes with values in the Čech-de~Rham cohomology of the leaf space studied in details by Crainic and Moerdijk. This map is in general non-injective. All constructions are done using Losik's approach to Gelfand formal geometry. A similar result is obtained for the exotic characteristic classes as well as for the group actions of the diffeomorphisms. As illustrating examp…
The characteristic forms in the bundle of connections of a principal bundle P over M determine the characteristic classes of P for degree less or equal to the dimension of M, and differential forms on the space of connections for higher degree. The equivariant characteristic classes provide canonical equivariant extensions of this forms, and so cohomology classes in the quotient space of connections modulo gauge transformations. More generally, given a closed differential form in M and a characteristic form, we obtain a cohomology class in the space of connections modulo gauge transformations,…
We define and study invariants which can be uniformly constructed for any gauge system. By a gauge system we understand an (anti-)Poisson supermanifold provided with an odd Hamiltonian self-commuting vector field called a homological vector field. This definition encompasses all the cases usually included into the notion of a gauge theory in physics as well as some other similar (but different) structures like Lie or Courant algebroids. For Lagrangian gauge theories or Hamiltonian first class constrained systems, the homological vector field is identified with the classical BRST transformation…
In this note we clarify the relevance of ``connections up to homotopy'' to the theory of characteristic classes. We have already remarked \cite{Crai} that such connections up to homotopy can be used to compute the classical Chern characters. Here we present a slightly different argument for this, and then proceed with the discussion of the flat (secondary) characteristic classes. As an application, we clarify the relation between the two different approaches to characteristic classes of algebroids (and of Poisson manifolds in particular): we explain that the intrinsic characteristic classes ar…
We give a construction of cyclic cocycles representing the equivariant characteristic classes of equivariant bundles. Our formulas generalize Connes' Godbillon-Vey cyclic cocycle. An essential tool of our construction is Connes-Moscovici's theory of cyclic cohomology of Hopf algebras.
We introduce basic characteristic classes and numbers as new invariants for Riemannian foliations. If the ambient Riemannian manifold M is simply connected (or more generally if the foliation is a transversely orientable Killing foliation), if M is complete and if the space of leaf closures is compact, then the basic characteristic numbers are determined by the infinitesimal dynamical behavior of the foliation at the union of its closed leaves. In fact, they can be computed with an Atiyah-Bott-Berline-Vergne-type integration formula for equivariant basic cohomology.
We construct the odd symplectic structure and the equivariant even (pre)symplectic one from it on the space of differential forms on the Riemann manifold. The Poincare -- Cartan like invariants of the second structure define the equivariant generalizations of the Euler classes on the surfaces.
We extend the notion of connection in order to be able to study singular geometric structures, namely, we consider a notion of connection on a Lie algebroid which is a natural extension of the usual concept of connection. Using connections, we are able to define holonomy of the orbit foliation of a Lie algebroid and prove a stability theorem. We also introduce secondary or exotic characteristic classes that generalize the modular class of a Lie algebroid.
In this paper we give explicit formulas of differential characteristic classes of principal $G$-bundles with connections and prove their expected properties. In particular, we obtain explicit formulas for differential Chern classes, differential Pontryagin classes and differential Euler class. Furthermore, we show that the differential Chern class is the unique natural transformation from (Simons-Sullivan) differential $K$-theory to (Cheeger-Simons) differential characters that is compatible with curvature and characteristic class. We also give the explicit formula for the differential Chern c…
In this article we study the construction of characteristic classes for principal $G$-bundles equipped with an additional structure called transitionally commutative structure (TC structure). These structures classify, up to homotopy, possible trivializations of a principal $G$-bundle, such that the induced cocycle have functions that commute in the intersections of their domains. We focus mainly on the cases where the structural group $G$ equals $SU(n)$, $U(n)$ or $\mathrm{Sp}(n)$. Our approach is an algebraic-geometric construction that relies on the so called power maps defined on the space…
A Riemannian metric on a manifold M induces a family of Riemannian metrics on the loop space LM depending on a Sobolev space parameter s. The connection and curvature forms of these metrics take values in pseudodifferential operators. We develop a theory of Wodzicki-Chern-Simons classes using the s=0, 1 connections and the Wodzicki residue. These classes distinguish the smooth homotopy type of some circle actions on M = S^2 x S^3, and imply that the fundamental group of Diff(M) is infinite.
Using the concept of a cohesive module defined by Block, we use the theory of superconnections in the sense of Quillen to construct natural superconnections on Hermitian cohesive modules. By the Chern-Weil construction, we obtain characteristic classes with values in Bott-Chern cohomology which refines the usual deRham cohomology. The main result of this paper shows that such characteristic classes are independent of the Hermitian metric and only dependent on the homotopy class of the cohesive module in the homotopy category. This extends the Bott-Chern cohomology to the bounded derived catego…
We show that every bad orbifold vector bundle can be realized as the restriction of a good orbifold vector bundle to a suborbifold of the base space. We give an explicit construction of this result in which the Chen-Ruan orbifold cohomology of the two base spaces are isomorphic (as additive groups). This construction is used to indicate an extension of the Chern-Weil construction of characteristic classes to bad orbifold vector bundles. In particular, we apply this construction to the orbifold Euler class and demonstrate that it acts as an obstruction to the existence of nonvanishing sections.
In earlier joint work with A. Connes on transverse index theory on foliations, cyclic cohomology adapted to Hopf algebras has emerged as a decisive tool in deciphering the total index class of the hypoelliptic signature operator. We have found a Hopf algebra H(n), playing the role of a `quantum structure group' for the `space of leaves' of a codimension n foliation, whose Hopf cyclic cohomology is canonically isomorphic to the Gelfand-Fuks cohomology of the Lie algebra of formal vector fields. However, with a few low-dimensional exceptions, no explicit construction was known for its Hopf cycli…
In this paper we study the variability and rigidity of secondary characteristic classes which arise from flat connections on a manifold. Considering the connection as a Lie-algebra valued one-form, we study the characteristic map from Lie algebra cohomology to de Rham cohomology of the manifold, and prove that if the Leibniz cohomology of the Lie algebra vanishes, then all secondary characteristic classes are rigid. In the case of codimension one foliations (with trivial normal bundle), we show that a characteristic map from the Leibniz cohomology of formal vector fields to the de Rham cohomol…
We provide evidence for the conjecture that the Wodzicki-Chern classes vanish for all bundles with the group Z of invertible zeroth order pseudodifferential operators as structure group. In particular, we prove this vanishing if the structure group reduces to pseudodifferential operators with leading order symbol the identity. The leading order Chern classes are nonzero in general, and they detect elements of the de Rham cohomology groups of the classifying space BZ.
We give conceptual proofs of some well known results concerning compact non-positively curved locally symmetric spaces. We discuss vanishing and non-vanishing of Pontrjagin numbers and Euler characteristics for these locally symmetric spaces. We also establish vanishing results for Stiefel-Whitney numbers of (finite covers of) the Gromov-Thurston examples of negatively curved manifolds. We mention some geometric corollaries: the MinVol question, a lower bound for degrees of covers having tangential maps to the non-negatively curved duals, and estimates for the complexity of some representation…
We refine the cyclic cohomological apparatus for computing the Hopf cyclic cohomology of the Hopf algebras associated to infinite primitive Cartan-Lie pseudogroups, and for the transfer of their characteristic classes to foliations. The main novel feature is the precise identification as a Hopf cyclic complex of the image of the canonical homomorphism from the Gelfand-Fuks complex to the Bott complex for equivariant cohomology. This provides a convenient new model for the Hopf cyclic cohomology of the geometric Hopf algebras, which allows for an efficient transport of the Hopf cyclic classes v…
We give an explicit description, in terms of bracket, anchor, and pairing, of the standard cochain complex associated to a Courant algebroid. In this formulation, the differential satisfies a formula that is formally identical to the Cartan formula for the de Rham differential. This perspective allows us to develop the theory of Courant algebroid connections in a way that mirrors the classical theory of connections. Using a special class of connections, we construct secondary characteristic classes associated to any Courant algebroid.
A $Q$-manifold $M$ is a supermanifold endowed with an odd vector field $Q$ squaring to zero. The Lie derivative $L_Q$ along $Q$ makes the algebra of smooth tensor fields on $M$ into a differential algebra. In this paper, we define and study the invariants of $Q$-manifolds called characteristic classes. These take values in the cohomology of the operator $L_Q$ and, given an affine symmetric connection with curvature $R$, can be represented by universal tensor polynomials in the repeated covariant derivatives of $Q$ and $R$ up to some finite order. As usual, the characteristic classes are proved…
We construct equivariant, string and leading order characteristic classes and Chern-Simons classes for certain infinite rank bundles associated to fibrations occurring in loop spaces, Gromov-Witten theory and gauge theory. Results include a restatement of the S^1 index theorem using equivariant classes on the tangent bundle to loop space; the expression of some GW invariants in terms of string and leading order classes for infinite rank bundles over moduli spaces of pseudoholomorphic curves for semipositive symplectic manifolds; the identification of the real cohomology of a loop group with ce…
We have previously shown that the truncated Weil algebra of any Lie algebra is a Hopf-cyclic type complex with nontrivial coefficients. In this paper we apply this result to transfer the characteristic classes of transversely orientable foliations into the cyclic cohomology of the groupoid action algebra. Our result in codimension 1 matches with the only existing explicit computation done by Connes-Moscovici. In codimension 2 case, we carry out a constructive and explicit computation, by which we present the transverse fundamental class, the Godbillon-Vey class, and the other four residual cla…
Let $G$ be a Lie group and $G\to\Aut(G)$ be the canonical group homomorphism induced by the adjoint action of a group on itself. We give an explicit description of a 1-1 correspondence between Morita equivalence classes of, on the one hand, principal 2-group $[G\to\Aut(G)]$-bundles over Lie groupoids and, on the other hand, $G$-extensions of Lie groupoids (i.e.\ between principal $[G\to\Aut(G)]$-bundles over differentiable stacks and $G$-gerbes over differentiable stacks). This approach also allows us to identify $G$-bound gerbes and $[Z(G)\to 1]$-group bundles over differentiable stacks, wher…
A Q-manifold is a graded manifold endowed with a vector field of degree one squaring to zero. We consider the notion of a Q-bundle, that is, a fiber bundle in the category of Q-manifolds. To each homotopy class of ``gauge fields'' (sections in the category of graded manifolds) and each cohomology class of a certain subcomplex of forms on the fiber we associate a cohomology class on the base. Any principal bundle yielding canonically a Q-bundle, this construction generalizes Chern-Weil classes. Novel examples include cohomology classes that are locally the de Rham differential of the integrands…
An odd vector field $Q$ on a supermanifold $M$ is called homological, if $Q^2=0$. The operator of Lie derivative $L_Q$ makes the algebra of smooth tensor fields on $M$ into a differential tensor algebra. In this paper, we give a complete classification of certain invariants of homological vector fields called characteristic classes. These take values in the cohomology of the operator $L_Q$ and are represented by $Q$-invariant tensors made up of the homological vector field and a symmetric connection on $M$ by means of tensor operations.
In the first section we discuss Morita invariance of differentiable/algebroid cohomology. In the second section we present an extension of the van Est isomorphism to groupoids. This immediately implies a version of Haefliger's conjecture for differentiable cohomology. As a first application we clarify the connection between differentiable and algebroid cohomology (proved in degree 1, and conjectured in degree 2 by Weinstein-Xu). As a second application we extend van Est's argument for the integrability of Lie algebras. Applied to Poisson manifolds, this immediately gives (a slight improvement …
