Mathematics

In this article we provide a framework for the study of Hecke operators acting on the Bredon (co)homology of an arithmetic discrete group. Our main interest lies in the study of Hecke operators for Bianchi groups. Using the Baum-Connes conjecture, we can transfer computations in Bredon homology to obtain a Hecke action on the K -theory of the reduced C ??-algebra of the group. We show the power of this method giving explicit computations for the group S L 2 (Z[i]) . In order to carry out these computations we use an Atiyah-Segal type spectral sequence together with the Bredon homology of the classifying space for proper actions.

We employ the slice spectral sequence, the motivic Steenrod algebra, and Voevodsky's solutions of the Milnor and Bloch-Kato conjectures to calculate the hermitian K -groups of rings of integers in number fields. Moreover, we relate the orders of these groups to special values of Dedekind ζ -functions for totally real abelian number fields. Our methods apply more readily to the examples of algebraic K -theory and higher Witt-theory, and give a complete set of invariants for quadratic forms over rings of integers in number fields.

This paper is the first in a series in which we offer a new framework for hermitian K-theory in the realm of stable ∞ -categories. Our perspective yields solutions to a variety of classical problems involving Grothendieck-Witt groups of rings and clarifies the behaviour of these invariants when 2 is not invertible. In this article we lay the foundations of our approach by considering Lurie's notion of a Poincaré ∞ -category, which permits an abstract counterpart of unimodular forms called Poincaré objects. We analyse the special cases of hyperbolic and metabolic Poincaré objects, and establish a version of Ranicki's algebraic Thom construction. For derived ∞ -categories of rings, we classify all Poincaré structures and study in detail the process of deriving them from classical input, thereby locating the usual setting of forms over rings within our framework. We also develop the example of visible Poincaré structures on ∞ -categories of parametrised spectra, recovering the visible signature of a Poincaré duality space. We conduct a thorough investigation of the global structural properties of Poincaré ∞ -categories, showing in particular that they form a bicomplete, closed symmetric monoidal ∞ -category. We also study the process of tensoring and cotensoring a Poincaré ∞ -category over a finite simplicial complex, a construction featuring prominently in the definition of the L- and Grothendieck-Witt spectra that we consider in the next instalment. Finally, we define already here the 0-th Grothendieck-Witt group of a Poincaré ∞ -category using generators and relations. We extract its basic properties, relating it in particular to the 0-th L- and algebraic K-groups, a relation upgraded in the second instalment to a fibre sequence of spectra which plays a key role in our applications.

We define Grothendieck-Witt spectra in the setting of Poincaré ∞ -categories and show that they fit into an extension with a L- and an L-theoretic part. As consequences we deduce localisation sequences for Verdier quotients, and generalisations of Karoubi's fundamental and periodicity theorems for rings in which 2 need not be invertible. Our set-up allows for the uniform treatment of such algebraic examples alongside homotopy-theoretic generalisations: For example, the periodicity theorem holds for complex oriented E 1 -rings, and we show that the Grothendieck-Witt theory of parametrised spectra recovers Weiss and Williams' LA-theory. Our Grothendieck-Witt spectra are defined via a version of the hermitian Q-construction, and a novel feature of our approach is to interpret the latter as a cobordism category. This perspective also allows us to give a hermitian version -- along with a concise proof -- of the theorem of Blumberg, Gepner and Tabuada, and provides a cobordism theoretic description of the aforementioned LA-spectra.

We establish a fibre sequence relating the classical Grothendieck-Witt theory of a ring R to the homotopy C 2 -orbits of its K-theory and Ranicki's original (non-periodic) symmetric L-theory. We use this fibre sequence to remove the assumption that 2 is a unit in R from various results about Grothendieck-Witt groups. For instance, we solve the homotopy limit problem for Dedekind rings whose fraction field is a number field, calculate the various flavours of Grothendieck-Witt groups of Z , show that the Grothendieck-Witt groups of rings of integers in number fields are finitely generated, and that the comparison map from quadratic to symmetric Grothendieck-Witt theory of Noetherian rings of global dimension d is an equivalence in degrees ≥d+3 . As an important tool, we establish the hermitian analogue of Quillen's localisation-dévissage sequence for Dedekind rings and use it to solve a conjecture of Berrick-Karoubi.

Let G be a connected real reductive group. Orbit integrals define traces on the group algebra of G. We introduce a construction of higher orbit integrals in the direction of higher cyclic cocycles on the Harish-Chandra Schwartz algebra of G. We analyze these higher orbit integrals via Fourier transform by expressing them as integrals on the tempered dual of G. We obtain explicit formulas for the pairing between the higher orbit integrals and the K-theory of the reduced group C*-algebra, and discuss their applications to representation theory and K-theory.

The purpose of this article is to embed the string topology bracket developed by Chas-Sullivan and Menichi on negative cyclic cohomology groups as well as the dual bracket found by de Thanhoffer de Voelcsey-Van den Bergh on negative cyclic homology groups into the global picture of a noncommutative differential (or Cartan) calculus up to homotopy on the (co)cyclic bicomplex in general, in case a certain Poincare' duality is given. For negative cyclic cohomology, this in particular leads to a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra structure on the underlying Hochschild cohomology. In the special case in which this BV bracket vanishes, one obtains an e_3-algebra structure on Hochschild cohomology. The results are given in the general and unifying setting of (opposite) cyclic modules over (cyclic) operads.

A theory of higher colimits over categories of free presentations is developed. It is shown that different homology functors such as Hoshcshild and cyclic homology of algebras over a field of characteristic zero, simplicial derived functors, and group homology can be obtained as higher colimits of simply defined functors. Connes' exact sequence linking Hochschild and cyclic homology was obtained using this approach as a corollary of a simple short exact sequence. As an application of the developed theory it is shown that the third reduced K -functor can be defined as the colimit of the second reduced K -functor applied to the fibre square of a free presentation of an algebra. A Hopf-type formula for odd dimensional cyclic homology of an algebra over a field of characteristic zero is also proved.

Let G be a Lie group with finitely many connected components and let K be a maximal compact subgroup. We assume that G satisfies the rapid decay (RD) property and that G/K has non-positive sectional curvature. As an example, we can take G to be a connected semisimple Lie group. Let M be a G-proper manifold with compact quotient M/G. In this paper we establish index formulae for the C^*-higher indices of a G-equivariant Dirac-type operator on M. We use these formulae to investigate geometric properties of suitably defined higher genera on M. In particular, we establish the G-homotopy invariance of the higher signatures of a G-proper manifold and the vanishing of the A-hat genera of a G-spin, G-proper manifold admitting a G-invariant metric of positive scalar curvature.

Let G be a finitely connected Lie group and let K be a maximal compact subgroup. Let M be a cocompact G-proper manifold with boundary, endowed with a G-invariant metric which is of product type near the boundary. Under additional assumptions on G, for example that it satisfies the Rapid Decay condition and is such that G/K has nonpositive sectional curvature, we define higher Atiyah-Patodi-Singer C^*-indices associated to smooth group cocycles on G and to a generalized G-equivariant Dirac operator D on M with L^2-invertible boundary operator D_\partial. We then establish a higher index formula for these C^*-indices and use it in order to introduce higher genera for M, thus generalizing to manifolds with boundary the results that we have established in Part 1. Our results apply in particular to a semisimple Lie group G. We use crucially the pairing between suitable relative cyclic cohomology groups and relative K-theory groups.