English

The APS-index and the spectral flow

Spectral Theory 2023-07-03 v1 Operator Algebras

Abstract

We study the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer (APS) index, and its equality to the spectral flow, in an abstract, functional analytic setting. More precisely, we consider a (suitably continuous or differentiable) family of self-adjoint Fredholm operators A(t)A(t) on a Hilbert space, parametrised by tt in a finite interval. We then consider two different operators, namely D:=ddt+AD := \frac{d}{dt}+A (the abstract analogue of a Riemannian Dirac operator) and D:=ddtiAD := \frac{d}{dt}-iA (the abstract analogue of a Lorentzian Dirac operator). The latter case is inspired by a recent index theorem by B\"ar and Strohmaier (Amer.\ J.\ Math. 141 (2019), 1421--1455) for a Lorentzian Dirac operator equipped with APS boundary conditions. In both cases, we prove that Fredholm index of the operator DD equipped with APS boundary conditions is equal to the spectral flow of the family A(t)A(t).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2004.01085,
  title  = {The APS-index and the spectral flow},
  author = {Koen van den Dungen and Lennart Ronge},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.01085},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T14:36:59.111Z