English

Enlargeability, foliations, and positive scalar curvature

Differential Geometry 2018-10-24 v4

Abstract

We extend the deep and important results of Lichnerowicz, Connes, and Gromov-Lawson which relate geometry and characteristic numbers to the existence and non-existence of metrics of positive scalar curvature (PSC). In particular, we show: that a spin foliation with Hausdorff homotopy groupoid of an enlargeable manifold admits no PSC metric; that any metric of PSC on such a foliation is bounded by a multiple of the reciprocal of the foliation K-area of the ambient manifold; and that Connes' vanishing theorem for characteristic numbers of PSC foliations extends to a vanishing theorem for Haefliger cohomology classes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1703.02684,
  title  = {Enlargeability, foliations, and positive scalar curvature},
  author = {Moulay-Tahar Benameur and James L. Heitsch},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.02684},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

To appear in Inventiones Mathematicae. We have made a minor editing change