Localization of Equivariant Cohomology for Compact and Non-compact Group Actions

We give a brief introduction to the Berline-Vergne localization formula for the finite-dimensional setting and indicate how the Duistermaat-Heckman formula is derived from it. We consider applications of the localization formula when it is specialized to a maximal dimensional co-adjoint orbit. In particular, the case when the co-adjoint orbit is a quotient $G/T$ of a connected Lie group $G$ modulo a maximal torus $T$ is analyzed in detail. We describe also a generalization of the localization formula to non-compact group actions.