1CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL
LIE GROUPSSTEVEN ROSENBERG1To Joe Wolf, with great appreciation
Abstract. Chern–Weil and Chern–Simons theory extend to certain infinite-rankbundles that appear in mathematical physics. We discuss what is known of theinvariant theory of the corresponding infinite-dimensional Lie groups. We use thesetechniques to detect cohomology classes for spaces of maps between manifolds andfor diffeomorphism groups of manifolds.

Key words: Chern–Weil theory, Chern–Simons theory, infinite-rank bundles, mapping spaces, diffeomorphism groups, families index theorem.
MSC (2010) codes: Primary: 22E65; Secondary: 58B99, 58J20, 58J40
1. Introduction
The purpose of this survey is to emphasize algebraic aspects of Chern–Weil andChern–Simons theory in infinite dimensions. The main open questions concern theclassification or even existence of nontrivial Ad-invariant functions on the Lie algebraof some infinite-dimensional Lie groups that naturally appear in differential geometry
and mathematical physics. These groups include gauge groups of vector bundles,
diffeomorphism groups of manifolds, groups of bounded invertible pseudodifferential
operators, and semidirect products of these groups. They typically appear as the
structure groups of manifolds of maps between manifolds (e.g., in string theory) andin the setup of the Atiyah–Singer families index theorem. In effect, this article is aplea by a geometer for help from the experts in Lie groups.
As reviewed in Section 2, Chern–Weil theory is a well-established procedure topass from an Ad-invariant polynomial p on the Lie algebra of a finite-dimensional
Lie group G defined over a field k to an element cp ∈ H ∗ (BG, k), the cohomology of
the classifying space BG. For the classical compact connected groups over C, thiscorrespondence is an isomorphism. For a G-bundle P −→ B classified by a map
f : B −→ BG, the class cp (P ) = f ∗ cp ∈ H ∗ (B, C) is by definition the characteristicclass of P associated to p. For G = U (n), SO(n), these are the Chern classes andPontrjagin classes, respectively. They are used extensively in differential geometry,algebraic geometry and differential topology.
1

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Email:sr@math.bu.edu.
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S. ROSENBERG

Characteristic classes are obstructions to bundle triviality, i.e., they vanish on trivial bundles. When a Chern class of a bundle vanishes, the precise obstruction information for that class is unavailable, but there is a chance to obtain more refinedgeometric information. To begin, one can directly construct a de Rham representative
Cp (P ) of cp (P ) from a connection on P ; this is often also called Chern–Weil theory.
The advantage of the geometric approach is that one can in theory, and sometimes
in practice, explicitly compute this de Rham representative from knowledge of thecurvature of the connection.
If Cp (P ) vanishes pointwise, a very strong condition, then there is a secondaryor Chern–Simons class T Cp (P ) ∈ H ∗ (B, C/Z). As opposed to the topologicallydefined Chern classes, the Chern–Simons classes depend on the choice of connection,and so are inherently geometric objects. When defined, the Chern–Simons classes
are obstructions to a trivial bundle admitting a trivialization by flat sections of aconnection. Thus the secondary classes are more subtle and correspondingly harder
to work with than with the primary/Chern classes. They notably appear as thegenerators of the integer cohomology of the classical groups.
Infinite-dimensional manifolds such as loop spaces LM of manifolds and mapping
spaces Maps(N, M ) between manifolds occur frequently in mathematical physics.
Here the structure group of the tangent or frame bundle is an infinite-dimensional
Lie group, the gauge group of a finite rank bundle. More generally, a finite rank
bundle E −→ M over the total space of a fibration M −→ B of manifolds, the setupof the Atiyah–Singer families index theorem, naturally leads to an infinite rank bundle
E −→ B with a more complicated structure group. In light of physicists’ intriguingformal manipulations with path integrals, in particular their quick non-rigorous proofsof the Atiyah–Singer index theorem using loop spaces [2], it is natural to look for agood theory of characteristic classes of infinite rank vector bundles.
There are several immediate pitfalls. The fiber of such a bundle, an infinitedimensional vector space, comes with many inequivalent norm topologies, in contrast
to finite-dimensional vector spaces. As a result, the topology of the fiber has to be
specified carefully. If the topology is compatible with a Hilbert space structure on
the model fiber H, it is tempting to take as structure group GL(H), the group of
bounded invertible operators with bounded inverse. However, unlike in finite dimensions, GL(H) is contractible, so every GL(H) bundle is trivial. This kills the theoryof Chern classes in this generality.
Of course, GL(H) contains many interesting subgroups with nontrivial topology.
In particular, if a subgroup G consists of determinant class operators, then one cantry to form the characteristic classes associated to the invariant polynomial Tr(Ak ) for
A in the Lie algebra of trace class operators; after all, for finite rank complex bundles,
these polynomials form a generating set for the algebra of U (n)-invariant polynomials.
However, in infinite dimensions, these classes are generally noncomputable, in thesense that operator traces are rarely given by e.g., integrals of pointwise calculable

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expressions. In particular, it will usually be impossible to tell if these Chern classes
vanish or not. Notice that we are not even considering the more difficult topologicalapproach of working with BG.
In summary, in infinite dimensions we do not expect a version of Chern–Weil theory
that applies to all bundles. Instead, we should look for naturally occurring structuregroups with nontrivial topology, and we should look for computable Ad-invariant
functions.
As with the example Tr(Ak ), traces on the Lie algebra of a group give rise toinvariant functions. For gauge groups, a wide class of traces is known and these“tend to be” computable. However, the determination of all invariant functions isopen. This gives us a theory of characteristic classes on mapping spaces, the subjectof Section 3, and allows us to determine some nontrivial cohomology of mapping
spaces.
This theory is not as geometric as desired, in the sense that natural connections on mapping spaces are not compatible with a gauge group, but instead areΨ∗0 -connections for a larger group Ψ∗0 of pseudodifferential operators. This larger
group has fewer traces, which in fact have been classified. (An excellent reference forpseudodifferential operators and traces is [38].) Again, it is not known if there are
Ad-invariant functions not arising from traces.
It turns out that the Pontrjagin classes vanish for Maps(N, M ), so we are forced
to consider secondary classes. In Section 4 we discuss Chern–Simons classes forloop spaces. We use these classes to show that π1 (Diff(S 2 × S 3 )) is infinite, where
Diff(S 2 × S 3 ) is the diffeomrophism group of this 5-manifold. This result is new but
not unexpected, and is given more as an illustration of potential applications of thesetechniques.
In Section 5 we discuss characteristic classes associated to Diff(Z), the group ofdiffeomorphisms of a closed manifold Z. As pointed out by Singer, there is no known
theory of characteristic classes for Diff(Z)-bundles. Specifically, there are no known
nontrivial Ad-invariant functions on Lie(Diff(Z)). Instead, we outline a method to detect elements of H ∗ (Diff(G), C) for classical Lie groups G. This is cheating somewhat,
as in finite-dimensional bundle theory we want the cohomology of classifying spaces
like BU (n), not of U (n) itself. Of course, H ∗ (BU (n), C) is related to H ∗ (U (n), C)
by transgression arguments dating back to Borel. It is completely unclear if thesearguments can be formulated in infinite dimensions, so the results of this section arebaby steps towards understanding characteristic classes for diffeomorphism groups.
In Section 6, we discuss the setup of the families index theorem of Atiyah–Singer.
As recognized by Atiyah and Singer and used by Bismut, this theorem can be restated in terms of an infinite rank superbundle E. We discuss constructing a theoryof characteristic classes on these bundles. Here the structure group G contains botha gauge group and the group Diff(Z). Having a very large group makes it easier tofind Ad-invariant functions in principle, but again we know of no nontrivial invariant

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functions. Nevertheless, we can define characteristic classes of E for certain connections due to Bismut. We discuss an attempt to construct a proof of the families
index theorem using characteristic classes on E. While there are serious gaps in theargument, it is very intriguing that a semidirect product G n Ψ∗0 naturally appears as
a structure group. Thus the work in this last section is in some sense is a culminationof the techniques in the previous sections.
The determination of the algebra of invariants for Lie groups is a classical topic
with a very 19th century feel. In highlighting the obvious, namely the central roleof these Lie-theoretic questions in Chern–Weil theory, I’m reminded of Moliere’s M.
Jourdain, who discovers that he has been speaking prose all his life without knowing
it. In any case, I hope this article spurs interest in extending this classical theory to
infinite-dimensional settings of current interest in geometry and physics.
It is a pleasure to thank Andrés Larrain-Hubach, Yoshiaki Maeda, Sylvie Paycha,
Simon Scott and Fabián Torres-Ardila for many helpful conversations on this subject.
2. General comments on Chern–Weil theory
Let G be a finite-dimensional Lie group, and let PG be algebra of AdG -invariant
polynomials from g = Lie(G) to C. In its more abstract form, Chern–Weil theory
gives a map
cw : PG −→ H ∗ (BG, C).
Since G-bundles E −→ B are classified by elements f ∈ [B, BG], the set of homotopy
classes of maps from B to BG, a polynomial p ∈ PG gives rise to a characteristicclass cp (E) = f ∗ cw(p) ∈ H ∗ (B, C).
For compact connected groups, the suitably normalized map cw is a ring isomorphism to H ∗ (BG, Z) [9] (see Ch. 3, Section 4 for references to Borel’s original work),[10], with the corresponding characteristic classes called Chern classes for G = U (n)and Pontrjagin classes for G = SO(n). Since the adjoint action is given by conjugation for classical groups, for any k ∈ Z+ the polynomials A 7→ Tr(Ak ) are in PG . For
U (n), the corresponding characteristic classes are the kth components of the Chern
character (up to normalization). It is a classical result of invariant theory that thesepolynomials generate PU (n) . We note that the kth Chern class is given by the traceof the transformation induced by A on Λk (Cn ); since this transformation is usuallyalso denoted by Ak , it is easy to confuse the two uses of Tr(Ak ).
Remark 2.1. If a group G is linear, i.e., there is an embedding i : G −→ GL(N, C) forsome N (or equivalently, G admits a finite-dimensional faithful representation), thenan AdG -invariant function on g corresponds to a i(G)-conjugation invariant functional
on di(g). The functionals A 7→ Tr(Ak ) certainly work, but there may be other invariant
functions if i(G) has “small enough” image in GL(N, C). For example, the Pfaffian
Pf(A) is an invariant polynomial for A ∈ SO(n) which is not in the algebra generated
by the Tr(Ak ); while det(A) is in this algebra, the Pfaffian satisfies (Pf(A))2 = det(A).

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This abstract approach to characteristic classes is not very useful in practice, bothbecause BG tends to be far from a manifold, and because classifying maps are hard
to find. However, the classifying space approach certainly is powerful. For example,
if a bundle is trivial, then it is classified by a constant map, and so it immediately
follows that its characteristic classes vanish. (For U (n), the converse almost holds: if
a hermitian vector bundle E has vanishing Chern classes, then some multiple kE istrivial. The proof is nontrivial.)
There are alternative approaches to constructing e.g., Chern classes, one topologicaland one geometric. The topological approach constructs the highest Chern class cn (E)of a rank-n complex vector bundle and then iteratively constructs the lower Chernclasses by passing to a flag bundle [19, 28]. Since our bundles will have infinite rank,
it’s hard to get started on this approach.
At this point, we once and for all pass from principal G-bundles to vector bundles
with G as structure group, although the former case is somewhat more general. Thus
we are assuming that G is linear, and a G-bundle denotes a vector bundle withstructure group G.
Since the topological approach seems unpromising, we follow the geometric method.
If B is a paracompact manifold, then it admits a partition of unity, so G-bundles overB admit G-connections. (Finite-dimensional manifolds and even Banach manifolds
are paracompact). cp (E) is then the de Rham cohomology class [p(Ω)] of p(Ω), whereΩ is the g-valued curvature two-form of the connection, and p(Ω) involves wedging
of forms and the Lie bracket in g in a natural way. The Ad-invariance of p is usedcrucially to show that p(Ω) is closed and that its cohomology class is independent of
the connection. This material is standard, and can be found in e.g., [4, 6, 37]. Insummary,
Theorem 2.2 (Chern–Weil Theorem). Let p be an AdG -invariant C-valued power
series on g. Let E −→ B be a bundle over a manifold B with structure group G, andlet ∇ be a G-connection with curvature Ω. Then(i) p(Ω) is a closed even degree form on B.
(ii) The de Rham cohomology class [p(Ω)] ∈ H ∗ (B, C) is independent of the choiceof ∇.
Often, the power series of interest are in fact polynomials of some degree k <dim(B)/2, in which case [p(Ω)] ∈ H 2k (B, C). In particular, for U (n), the classes on acomplex bundle E associated to (2πi)−1 Tr(Ak ) are denoted by ck (E) and are called
the kth Chern classes; the normalization ensures that they are in fact integral classes.
The Pontrjagin classes of a real finite rank bundle F are by definition the Chernclasses of the complexification F ⊗ C, corresponding to the embedding of SO(n) into
U (n). On U (n), the most important example of a power series is the exponentialfunction eA ; the corresponding Chern class is called the Chern character. In index
theory, other power series like the Â-genus naturally occur, although all these aretruncated to polynomials at the dimension of the manifold. On infinite rank bundles

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over infinite-dimensional manifolds, there is no reason to truncate, so the use of power
series is more natural.
The advantage to the geometric approach is that the de Rham representative p(Ω)
is pointwise computable on B. For example, a trivial complex bundle has vanishing
Chern classes. From the geometric construction, we can conclude more: a bundle
with a nonvanishing Chern class does not admit a flat connection. This is a stronger
statement precisely because there are nontrivial bundles E with flat connections;these have a discrete structure group.
For noncompact finite-dimensional Lie groups, the situation is not so clean. For
G = GL(n, R)+ , the connected group of orientation-preserving elements of GL(n, R),
cw is not surjective. For G is homotopy equivalent to SO(n), so the universal Euler
class, the element e ∈ H n (BSO(n), Z) corresponding to the Pfaffian in PSO(n) , is also
an element of H n (BGL(n, R)+ , Z). However, since the Pfaffian is not GL(n, R)+ invariant, e is not in the image of cw on PGL(n,R)+ .
It is clear that parts of geometric Chern–Weil theory carry over to infinite-dimensional
Lie groups, especially since tricky questions about the topology of these Lie groups
can often be avoided. For example, let G be the group of invertible transformationsof a fixed Hilbert space of the form I + A, where A is trace class. Since all suchoperators are bounded, it is not hard to show that G is indeed a Lie group, with
Lie algebra given by the set of trace class operators. Certainly the first Chern classc1 (E) = [Tr(Ω)] ∈ H 2 (B, C) exists for any connection on a G-bundle E −→ B. HereTr refers to the operator trace. However, this Chern class is not computable except in
special cases. In particular, we do not expect to be able to tell if this class is nonzero
or not. By restricting A to lie in higher Shatten classes, we can construct higher but
similarly noncomputable Chern classes, as discussed in [34].
Making sense of Lie groups of unbounded operators on a Hilbert space is difficult,particularly since the exponential map may have a sparse image. For finite rank
bundles, one can take a default position by considering bundles for classical groups
as GL(n, C)-bundles. Since GL(n, C) deformation retracts onto U (n), the topologicaltheory of characteristic classes is the same for the two groups. In fact, the geometrictheory is the same, as the Ad-invariant polynomials are the same for the two groups.
Of course, for other linear groups the situation can be more complicated.
By analogy, in infinite dimensions we might begin with GL(H), the group of
bounded invertible operators with bounded inverses on a real or complex Hilbert
space H. As an open subset of the set of bounded endomorphisms of H, GL(H) is a
Lie group [31]. However, this group has trivial Chern–Weil theory. For by Kuiper’s
Theorem, the unitary group U (H) and hence GL(H) is contractible in the norm
topology. Thus BGL(H) has the homotopy type of a point, so all GL(H) bundles
are trivial. (U (H) should not be confused with the group U (∞) = lim−→ U (n), which
has nontrivial topology by Bott periodicity.)

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This problem of having a large contractible structure group is a key feature of
infinite dimensions. As an example of its annoying presence, we can use GL(H) to“ruin” Chern–Weil theory for finite rank bundles. For example, if we embed GL(n, C)
into GL(N, C) as an upper left block for N > n, then we can extend a rank-n complex
bundle E to a rank-N bundle with essentially the same transition functions. Since
this amounts to adding a trivial (N − n)-rank bundle to E, the Chern classes areunchanged. However, if we embed GL(n, C) into GL(H), then the extended bundle
and any characteristic classes become trivial. (We can cook up a similar example infinite dimensions: Let E −→ S 1 be the Q-bundle which is trivial over (0, 2π) andwith (0, q) glued to (2π, 2q). Then E is nontrivial as a Q-bundle, but becomes trivial
when extended to an R-bundle.)
From these examples, we see that we should consider infinite rank bundles whose
structure group is a subgroup of GL(H) with nontrivial topology. Fortunately, there
are several well-known infinite-dimensional manifolds with a good Chern–Weil theoryof characteristic classes.
3. Mapping Spaces and their characteristic classes
3.1. The topological setup. Let N n , M m be smooth, oriented, compact manifolds.
Fix s0  0, and let Maps(N, M ) be the functions f : N −→ M of Sobolev classs0 (denoted f ∈ H s0 ). Here we fix covers {(Uα , φα )}, {(Vβ , ψβ )} of N, M , respecnm
is of Sobolev class s0 for all
tively, and we are imposing that ψβ f φ−1
α : R −→ R
α, β. Maps(N, M ) is a smooth Banach manifold [11], and the smooth structure isindependent of the choice of covers.
We could work with the space of smooth maps from N to M as a Fréchet manifold,but this is technically more difficult. In particular, the implicit function theorem,
which is used repeatedly in the foundations of manifold theory, is not guaranteed
to hold for Fréchet manifolds. This is a little lazy, as the implicit function theorem
holds for tame Fréchet manifolds [17] such as Maps(N, M ), but we choose to workwith Sobolev spaces just to keep the notation down.
The easiest examples of mapping spaces are free loop spaces LM (N = S 1 ) and inparticular free loop groups LG. The most natural bundles are the tangent bundles
T LM, T LG. Just as in finite dimensions, T LG is canonically trivial, so we do not
expect characteristic classes for loop groups.
To develop a theory of characteristic classes of T LM , we should determine its
structure group and look for Ad-invariant functions. A tangent vector in T LM ata loop γ should be the infinitesimal information in a family of loops s 7→ γs (θ), forθ ∈ S 1 and s ∈ (−, ). The infinitesimal information is {γ̇(θ) = (d/ds)|s=0 γs (θ) :θ ∈ S 1 }. This is a vector field along γ, i.e., a section of γ ∗ T M −→ S 1 ; the pullback
bundle has the effect of distinguishing tangent vectors γ̇(θ0 ), γ̇(θ1 ) where γ(θ0 ) =γ(θ1 ). Conversely, given a Riemannian metric on M , the exponential maps expγ(θ) :Tγ(θ) M −→ M combine to take a vector field along γ to a loop. Taking care of the

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analytic details, we get Tγ LM = Γ(γ ∗ T M ), where we take H s0 sections of γ ∗ T M.
Since M is oriented, γ ∗ T M is a trivial rank-m real bundle over S 1 denoted Rm = Rmγ .
The trivialization is not canonical, so T LM need not be trivial, and we have a hopeof constructing characteristic classes.
We now show that the structure group of T LM is a group of gauge transformations.
This structure group is determined by the differentials of the transition functions of
LM . Fix a Riemannian metric on M . Call s ∈ Tγ LM short if expγ(θ) s(θ) is inside thecut locus of γ(θ) for all θ. Let Uγ be the neighborhood of γ in LM consisting of the
all exponentials along γ of short loops. These neighborhoods give an open cover of
LM . On Uγ0 ∩ Uγ1 , the transition functions are given by fiberwise invertible nonlinear
maps ΓRm −→ ΓRm . Since ΓRm is a vector space, the differentials of the transition
maps at a v ∈ Rn can be naturally identified with invertible linear maps on Rm which
act fiberwise. Thus the structure group is the group of H s0 bundle automorphisms of
Rm , i.e., the gauge group G(Rn ). (Strictly speaking, we should take the gauge groupof G(T Rn ), but this has the same homotopy type as G(Rn ).)The general case of Maps(N, M ) is similar. The path components of Maps(N, M )are in bijection with [N, M ]. Pick a path component X0 and f : N −→ M in X0 .
Then for all g ∈ X0 , Tg Maps(N, M ) ' Γ(f ∗ T M −→ N ) noncanonically. f ∗ T M neednot be trivial, but as above the structure group on X0 is G(f ∗ T M ). For convenience,
we always complexify real bundles, so the structure group is G(f ∗ T M ⊗ C). From
now on, we often omit the ⊗ C term.
In summary, T Maps(N, M ) is a gauge bundle, or G-bundle for short.
Now that the structure group of T Maps(N, M ) has been determined, we look for
AdG -invariant functions on g. Here g = Lie(G) = End(f ∗ T M ) is the vector spaceof H s0 −1 bundle endomorphisms of f ∗ T M. Since the Lie group and Lie algebra act
fiberwise on f ∗ T M , the adjoint action of G on g is fiberwise conjugation: Ad(A)(b) =AbA−1 . For fixed Riemannian metrics on N and M , f ∗ T M inherits an inner product,
and we can set
Z∗
ck : G(f T M ) −→ C, ck (A) =tr(Ak ) dvolN .
N

Note that the trace depends on the metric on M . This is clearly Ad-invariant, so we
can define
ck (X0 ) = [ck (Ω)] ∈ H 2k (X0 , C)
(3.1)
for Ω the curvature of any gauge connection on T Maps(N, M ). We will usuallyjust write ck (Maps(N, M )) ∈ H 2k (Maps(N, M ), C). Some examples of these “gauge
classes” will be computed in Section 3.3.
The reader familiar with characteristic classes may be appalled that we are omitting the usual normalizing constants which in finite dimensions guarantee that Chernclasses have integral periods. In infinite dimensions, there is no known topologicalmethod of producing integral characteristic classes, so there is no natural normalization.

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There are certainly many
R other Ad-invariant functions. For any smooth function
h : N −→ C, ck,h (A) = N h · tr(Ak ) dvolN is Ad-invariant. Letting h approach adelta function, we see that for every distribution h ∈ D(N ), h(tr(Ak )) is Ad-invariant.
Although it is overkill, this fits in with the finite-dimensional situation, where thestructure group GL(n, C) is the gauge group of the bundle Cn −→ ∗, where ∗ is apoint, and h ∈ D(∗) must be multiplication by a constant.
Open question: Determine all AdG -invariant analytic functions on g.
Since G is dense in g, solving this question includes finding all the traces on g,i.e., linear functions t : g −→ C with t(ab) = t(ba) for all a, b ∈ g. This is in turnequivalent to computing the Hochschild cohomology group HH 0 (g, C), which should
be feasible. This is interesting even in the loop group case, where we are asking for
HH 0 (Lg, C), where g is now the Lie algebra of the compact group G.
For an overview of a large class of Ad-invariant functions on Lg with applications
to integrable systems, see [35].
3.2. The geometric setup. Since we are taking a geometric approach to characteristic classes, we should see if the natural geometry on Maps(N, M ) is compatible
with the structure group G. In fact, it is not, as we now explain.
For simplicity, we will just consider loop spaces LM m . The parameter θ always
denotes the loop parameter, so LM = {γ(θ) : θ ∈ S 1 , γ(θ) ∈ M } for γ of Sobolev
class s0 .
Fix a Riemannian metric on M and fix s ∈ [0, s0 ]. Define an H s inner product onTγ LM byZ
hX, Y iγ,s =hXγ(θ) , (I + ∆)s Yγ(θ) iγ(θ) dθ.
S1
D∗ M
Here ∆ = D D, with D = dγ = γ ∇ the covariant derivative along γ, or equivalentlyM∗the γ-pullback of the Levi-Civita connection ∇ on M . The role of the positive
elliptic operator (I + ∆)s is to count roughly s − (m/2) derivatives of the vector
fields, by the so-called basic elliptic estimate. Thus the larger the s and s0 , the closer
we are to modeling the smooth loop space. In particular, the L2 metric (i.e., s = 0),
while independent of a choice of s and hence natural, is too weak for many situations.
(For example, the absolute version of the Chern–Simons classes discussed in Section
4 are multiples of s, and hence vanish at s = 0.)This H s metric gives rise to a Levi-Civita connection ∇s on LM by the Koszul
formula2h∇sY X, Zis =XhY, Zis + Y hX, Zis − ZhX, Y is+h[X, Y ], Zis + h[Z, X], Y is − h[Y, Z], Xis ,(3.2)

but only if the right-hand side is a continuous linear functional of Z ∈ Tγ LM . Notethat this continuity is not an issue in finite dimensions.

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We will consider loop groups as an example. First, recall that for a finite-dimensional
Lie group G with a left-invariant metric, there is a global frame for T G consistingof left-invariant vector fields Xi . For such vector fields, the Kozul formula simplifies,
since the first three terms on the right-hand side of (3.2) vanish. In particular, one
can determine ∇Xj Xi in terms of the structure constants of G. Since any vector field
on G can be written as X = f i Xi for fi ∈ C ∞ (G), the Leibniz rule then determines∇Y X completely for any X, Y.
For loop groups LG, we can take an infinite basis {Xi } of Te LG = Lg, by e.g.,taking Fourier modes with respect to a chosen basis of g. We can extend these toleft-invariant vector fields. A calculation first due to Freed [13] gives
2∇sX Y = [X, Y ] + (I + ∆)−s [(I + ∆)s X, Y ] + (I + ∆)−s [X, (I + ∆)s Y ],(3.3)

for X, Y left-invariant. The reader is encouraged to rework this calculation, whichjust uses that (I + ∆)s is selfadjoint for the L2 inner product. There are technicalissues here, such as checking that the right-hand side of (3.3) stays in H s0 , and that
applying the Leibniz rule to infinite sums f i Xi also stays in H s0 . Since the Xi are so
explicit, these issues can be resolved.
In (3.3), (I + ∆)s is a differential operator if s ∈ Z+ and is a classical pseudodifferential (ΨDO) operator otherwise. In any case, (I + ∆)−s is always pseudodifferential.
The critical Sobolev dimension for LG is 1/2, since loops need to be in H (1/2)+ to
be continuous, so we will always assume s > 1/2. As an operator on Y for fixed X,∇sX Y has order zero: the first order differentiations in the first and third terms on
the right-hand side of (3.3) cancel (as seen by a symbol calculation), and the second
term has order −2s + 1.
These technical calculations are really quite crucial. On general principles, theconnection one-form and the curvature two-form take values in the Lie algebra of thestructure group. So calculating these forms tells us for which structure group G ourconnection is a G-connection. For the curvature two-formΩs (X, Y ) = ∇sX ∇sY − ∇sY ∇sX − ∇s[X,Y ] ,we can always say that Ωs ∈ Λ2 (LG, End(Tγ LG)) by default, but the vector space
End(Tγ LG) is too big to be useful. After all, End(Tγ LG) could only be the Liealgebra of Aut(Tγ LG), all technical issues aside. Without further restrictions, thisgroup contains both bounded and unbounded operators, so its topology is unclear.
Thus without some detailed computations, the setup would be too formal. However,since ∇s is built from zero order ΨDOs, Ωs also takes values in zero order ΨDOs.
That is good news, since order zero ΨDO are bounded operators on Tγ LG with any
H s norm. Moreover, the vector space Ψ≤0 of classical ΨDOs of integer order at mostzero is the Lie algebra of Ψ∗0 , the Lie group of invertible classical zeroth order ΨDOs[32]. (Inverses of elements in Ψ∗0 are automatically bounded.) Note that Ψ∗0 ⊃ G(Rn ),since gauge transformations are (zero-th order) multiplication operators.

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Thus by just working out the connection and curvature, we see that it is natural toextend the structure group from the gauge group G, which was good enough for the
topology of LG, to Ψ∗0 , which is needed to incorporate the Levi-Civita connection.
Before leaving the loop group case, we note that Freed proved that Ωs actually takes
values in ΨDOs of order at most −1. By some careful calculations, sharp results havebeen obtained:
Proposition 3.1. [20], [27] If G is abelian, the curvature two-form Ωs for LG takes
values in ΨDOs of order −∞ for all s ≥ 1. If G is nonabelian, the curvature two-formtakes values in ΨDOs of order −∞ for s = 1 and order −2 for s > 1. These results
are also valid for the based loop groups ΩG.
The case s = 1 is known to be special: for complex groups G, ΩG is a Kähler
manifold for the s = 1 metric [34]. The proposition again singles out this case,and applies to all finite-dimensional Lie groups. One proof that the curvature hasorder −∞ involves showing that the map α : Lg 7→ Lg[[ξ −1 ]] (which appears in
integrable systems as the space of formal nonpositive integer order ΨDOs on the
P
(−1)`
−`
trivial bundle E = S 1 × g −→ S 1 ) given by α(X) = ∞is a Lie`=0 i` (∂θ X)ξ
algebra homomorphism. It would be interesting to know how this representation of
Lg on the H s sections of E fits into the general theory of loop group representations.
We now consider (3.2) for general loop spaces LM . Now all six terms on the righthand side contribute unless M is parallelizable. For s ∈ Z+ , after some simplifications,
we end up with terms that take θ derivatives of Z (e.g., (I + ∆)s Z). This apparently
obstructs the right-hand side from being a linear functional in Z in the H s norm, but
we can integrate by parts 2s times over S 1 to remove this problem. As a result, theLevi-Civita connection exists in this case. In contrast, for s 6∈ Z+ , P
trying to integrate∞ss
by parts involves the infinite symbol asymptotics σ(I + ∆) ∼k=0 σ−k (I + ∆)sof the ΨDO (I + ∆) , and so does not terminate. To make a long story short, theLevi-Civita connection does not exist.
Theorem 3.2. [27] Let M be a Riemannian manifold. Then the Levi-Civita connection for the H s metric on LM exists for s ∈ Z+ ∪ {0}. If M is not parallelizable, thenthe Levi-Civita connection does not exist for s 6∈ Z+ ∪ {0}.
This demonstrates the perils of geometry in infinite dimensions. A similar result
should hold for Maps(N, M ) but has not been worked out.
Remark 3.3. Now that the structure group Ψ∗0 = Ψ∗0 (f ∗ T M −→ N ) has naturally
appeared, we can formulate the notion of principal Ψ∗0 -bundles and associated vector
bundles for general Ψ∗0 (E −→ N ). To see that the theory of Ψ∗0 -bundles is topologically distinct from the theory of G-bundles, we should show that G is not a deformation
retract of Ψ∗0 . This is probably true, as for A ∈ Ψ∗0 , the top order symbol σ0 (A) livesin G(π ∗ E −→ S ∗ N ), which does not retract onto G(E −→ N ). It would be good towork this out.

12

S. ROSENBERG

To summarize, the geometry of Maps(N, M ) leads us to extend the structure groupfrom a gauge group to a group of Ψ∗0 . In contrast, putting a metric on a complex
finite rank bundle leads to a reduction of the structure group GL(n, C) to U (n).
3.3. Characteristic classes for Maps(N, M ). The immediate issue is to find all
Ad-invariant functions for Ψ≤0 = Ψ≤0 (f ∗ T M −→ N ). Since this algebra is larger
than the gauge algebra g = End(f ∗ T M ), we expect fewer invariants. As a start,
we know we can build invariants from traces. In this setting the traces have beenclassified, as we explain.
Recall that the Wodzicki residue of a ΨDO A acting on sections of a bundle E −→N n is defined byZw
w−ntr σ−n (A)(x, ξ) dξ dvol(x),(3.4)
res : Ψ≤0 −→ C, res (A) = (2π)
S∗N∗

where S N is the unit cosphere bundle. For dim(N ) > 1, the Wodzicki residue isthe unique trace on the full algebra of ΨDOs up to scaling, although the facts that
it is a trace and is unique are not obvious [12, 38]. (The issue for N = S 1 , the loop
space case, is that the unit cosphere bundle is not connected, but this case has beentreated in [33].) In particular, the integrand tr σ−n (A)(x, ξ) is not a trace, so wecannot apply distributions to the integrand to get other traces. The Wodzicki residue
vanishes on ΨDOs which do not have a symbol term of order −n, so it vanishes
on g, on all differential operators, and on all classical operators of noninteger order.
The Wodzicki residue is orthogonal to the operator trace, in the sense that operatorsof order less than −n are trace class but have vanishing Wodzicki residue. Just to
reassure ourselves that this trace is nontrivial, for any first order elliptic operator D on
sections of E, σ−n (I + D∗ D)−n/2 (x, ξ) = |ξ|−n , so resw (I + D∗ D)−n/2 = vol(S ∗ N ) 6= 0.
Remark 3.4. The Wodzicki residue is the higher dimensional analogue of the residue
considered by Adler, van Moerbeke and others in the study of the KdV equation andflows on coadjoint orbits of loop groups [1, 16]. The Ad-invariant functions becomesintegrals of motion, and are used to study the complete integrability of this system.
On the subalgebra Ψ≤0 , there are more traces. The leading order symbol trace isdefined by
Z
Trlo (A) = (2π)−ntr σ0 (A)(x, ξ) dξ dvol(x).

(3.5)

S∗N

Since σ0 (AB) = σ0 (A)σ0 (B) for A, B ∈ Ψ≤0 , the integrand is a trace, and so any
distribution on S ∗ N applied to the function σ0 (A) ∈ C ∞ (S ∗ N ) is a trace.
Theorem 3.5. [26] For dim(N ) > 1, all traces on Ψ≤0 are of the form
A 7→ c · resw (A) + C(tr σ0 (A))
for some c ∈ C and C ∈ D(S ∗ N ).
The proof is an impressive calculation in Hochschild cohomology.

CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL LIE GROUPS

13

Remark 3.6. For α < 0, the set of ΨDOs of order at most α is a subalgebra of thefull ΨDO algebra. In [25], the traces on these subalgebras are classified.
Now that we know what the traces are, we can define two types of characteristicclasses for Ψ∗0 -bundles for Ψ∗0 = Ψ∗0 (F −→ Z) with Z closed and F a complex bundle.
∗
Definition 3.7. The kth Wodzicki–Chern class cw
k (E) of the Ψ0 -bundle E −→ M admitting a Ψ∗0 -connection ∇ is the de Rham cohomology class [resw (Ωk )] ∈ H 2k (M, C),
where Ω is the curvature of ∇. The kth leading order symbol class clo
k (E) is the delokRham class [Tr (Ω )].

Note that if ∇ is in fact a gauge connection, then clo
k (E) is a multiple of the gauge
classes in (3.1), since for gauge connections the symbol is independent of the cotangent
variable ξ.
def w
For Maps(N, M ), we easily get cw
k (Maps(N, M )) = ck (T Maps(N, M ) ⊗ C) = 0.
For T Maps(N, M ) is a gauge bundle admitting a gauge connection. The curvatureform of this connection takes values in End(f ∗ T M ) and so has vanishing Wodzicki
residue.
∗∗
In contrast, it is shown in [23] that clok (Maps(N, M )) = vol(S N ) · evn ck (T M ),where the evaluation map evn : Maps(N, M ) −→ M is given by evn (f ) = f (n) for a
fixed n ∈ N. With some work, this can be extended to:
Proposition 3.8. Let Mapsf (N, M ) denote the connected component of an elementf ∈ Maps(N, M ) for M connected. Let F −→ M be a rank-` complex bundle withck (F ) 6= 0. Then∗2k0 6= clok (π∗ ev F ) ∈ H (Mapsf (N, M ), C).
Thus we can use the leading order symbol classes to show that Maps(N, M ) has
roughly as much cohomology as M does. Of course, Maps(N, M ) should have much
more cohomology. Setting M = BU (`), we get
Theorem 3.9. [23] Let E −→ N be a rank-` hermitian bundle. There are surjective ring homomorphisms from H ∗ (BG(E), C) and H ∗ (BΨ∗0 (E), C) to the polynomial
algebra H ∗ (BU (`), C) = C[c1 (EU (`)), . . . , c` (EU (`))].
This is to our knowledge the first (incomplete) calculation of the cohomology ofBΨ∗0 , which is needed for a full understanding of the theory of characteristic classes.
Even for the gauge group, these results seem to be new, although more precise results
are known for specific 4-manifolds N 4 of interest in Donaldson theory. In contrast,
the homotopy groups of (a certain stabilization of) Ψ∗0 and hence of BΨ∗0 have been
completely computed in [36].
In summary, the study of traces on Ψ≤0 yields two types of characteristic classes,
the Wodzicki–Chern classes and the leading order symbol classes, but only the latterare nontrivial. Note that we have not addressed the question of finding Ad-invariant
functions not associated to traces.

14

S. ROSENBERG

Open Question: Determine all AdΨ∗0 -invariant functions on Ψ≤0 .
4. Secondary classes on Ψ∗0 -bundles
In this section we discuss secondary or Chern–Simons classes in infinite dimensions.
This material is taken from [22, 23, 27].
It is useful to think of the Wodzicki–Chern classes as purely infinite-dimensional
constructions: if E −→ M is a Ψ∗0 (E ` −→ ∗)-bundle with ∗ just a point, then E isa finite-rank bundle and the only “ΨDOs” are elements of GL(`, C), so there is no
Wodzicki residue. In contrast, the leading order symbol Chern classes reduce to theusual Chern classes in this case.
We have already seen applications of the leading order symbol Chern classes. The
Wodzicki–Chern classes are poised to detect the difference between Ψ∗0 - and G-bundles.
For as with Maps(N, M ), cw
k (E) = 0 if E admits a reduction to a G-bundle. Thus if∗∗
we can find a single Ψ0 -bundle E with cw
k (E) 6= 0 for some k, then Ψ0 cannot have a
deformation retraction to G.
However, this approach has completely failed to date.
Conjecture 4.1. For any Ψ∗0 -bundle E over a paracompact base, cw
k (E) = 0 for all k.
This conjecture holds if either (i) the structure group of E reduces from Ψ∗0 to thegroup Ell∗ of invertible zeroth order ΨDOs with leading symbol the identity [23], or(ii) E admits a bundle map via fiberwise Fredholm zeroth order ΨDOs to a trivial
bundle [22].
The proof of (i) uses the fact that Ell∗ has the homotopy type of invertible operatorsof the form identity plus smoothing operator, and these operators have vanishingWodzicki residue.
For (ii), we first note that this condition always holds for finite-rank bundles. The
proof follows the structure of the heat equation proof of the families index theorem(FIT) for superbundles [5]. One takes a superconnection ∇ on E and modifies it toBt = ∇+t1/2 A, where A is a zero-th order odd operator on each fiber. The Wodzicki–
Chern character of E has representative exp(−Bt2 ) for any t ≥ 0. As t −→ ∞, Bt
becomes concentrated on the finite rank index bundle for A∗ A, and so the Wodzicki–
Chern character vanishes. This implies that all the Wodzicki–Chern classes vanish.
Remark 4.2. Although almost all details have been omitted, this proof is much quicker
than the heat equation proofs of the FIT, and for good reason. In the FIT proofs, one
is trying to compute the Chern character of the index bundle in terms of characteristicclasses by comparing the t −→ 0 and t −→ ∞ limits of heat operators. The t −→ ∞limit is relatively easy, and is mimicked in the proof outlined above. However, because
one essentially wants to use the operator trace, the construction of the appropriate
Bt is much more delicate, in order to have a well-defined limit at t = 0. Once again,
we see the strong contrast between the operator trace and the Wodzicki residue.

CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL LIE GROUPS

15

The vanishing of the Wodzicki–Chern classes is not the end of the story, as it is infact the prerequisite to defining secondary classes. Let ∇0 , ∇1 be connections on aΨ∗0 -bundle with local connection one-forms ω0 , ω1 and curvature Ω0 , Ω1 . Then just as
for finite-rank bundles, as even formsww
cw
k (Ω1 ) − ck (Ω0 ) = dCSk (∇1 , ∇0 ),(4.1)

with the odd form CSkw (∇1 , ∇0 ) given by
CSkw (∇1 , ∇0 ) =

Z 1

k−1

z
}|
{
res [(ω1 − ω0 ) ∧ Ωt ∧ ... ∧ Ωt ] dt,
w

(4.2)

0

where
ωt = tω0 + (1 − t)ω1 , Ωt = dωt + ωt ∧ ωt .
Here we are just lifting the finite-dimensional formula from [6, Appendix], replacing
the matrix trace with the Wodzicki residue. (4.1) is precisely the explicit formulashowing that the Wodzicki–Chern class is independent of connection, and so is theΨ∗0 version of the proof of Theorem 2.2 (ii).
(4.1) shows that CSkw determines a 2k − 1 cohomology class if the Wodzicki–Chern
forms for ∇0 , ∇1 vanish pointwise. This holds in all cases we have been able tocompute.
Open question: Do Wodzicki–Chern forms always vanish pointwise?
If this is the case, then the theory of secondary classes for Ψ∗0 -bundles based on the
Wodzicki residue produces cohomology classes in odd degrees.
For finite-rank bundles E −→ N , the corresponding classes are called Chern–
Simons classes CSk (∇0 , ∇1 ) ∈ H 2k−1 (N, C), when they exist. In contrast to the Chernclasses, which are defined via the geometric Chern–Weil theory but have topologicalcontent, these “relative” Chern–Simons classes really do depend on the choice of twoconnections, and so are geometric objects. There is an “absolute” version of Chern–
Simons classes CSk (∇) ∈ H 2k−1 (N, C/Z) that only uses one connection but takes
values in a weaker coefficient ring [7].
Definition 4.3. The kth Wodzicki–Chern–Simons (WCS) class associated to connections ∇0 , ∇1 on a Ψ∗0 -bundle E −→ M is the cohomology class of CSkw (∇1 , ∇0 ) in
H 2k−1 (M, C), provided this form is closed.
In finite dimensions there are two ways to assure that characteristic forms for
E −→ N vanish: either use a flat connection, or pick a form whose degree is larger
than the dimension of N or the rank of E. For example, if E is trivial, it admits aflat connection ∇, so we can define CSk (∇, g −1 ∇g) for any gauge transformation g.
The dimension restriction is only useful to define CSr for dim(N ) = 2r − 1; this wasused very effectively by Chern–Simons [7] and Witten [39] to produce invariants of
3-manifolds.

16

S. ROSENBERG

For Maps(N, M ) with M parallelizable, a fixed trivialization of T M leads to a
global trivialization of T Maps(N, M ). A gauge transformation g of T M induces
a gauge transformation of T Maps(N, M ), so one has an element CSkw (∇, g −1 ∇g)∈ H 2k−1 (Maps(N, M ), C).
Open question: Is CSkw (∇, g −1 ∇g) ever nonzero?
Although the dimension restriction on N looks incapable of generalization tos
Maps(N, M ), an examination of the representative resw ((Ωs )k ) of cw
k for the H metric(s ∈ N) shows that this form vanishes pointwise for 2k > dim(M ), as in (4.3) below.
Thus we always get a secondary class CSkw (∇1 , ∇0 ) ∈ H 2k−1 (Maps(N, M 2k−1 ), C)
associated to the s = 1, 0 metrics on Maps(N, M ) determined by fixed metrics on
N, M .
For simplicity, we go back to the loop space case LM . Because the L2 (or s = 0)
connection is so easy to treat – its connection one-form is just the one-form for theLevi-Civita connection on M – the local formula for CSkw = CSkw (∇1 , ∇0 ) really is
explicitly computable [27, Prop. 5.4]: as a (2k − 1)- form on Tγ LM ,CSkw (X1 , ..., X2k−1 )ZX2=tr[(−ΩM (Xσ(1) , γ̇) − 2ΩM (·, γ̇)Xσ(1) )sgn(σ)(2k − 1)! σ
1
S

(4.3)

· (ΩM )k−1 (Xσ(2) , . . . , Xσ(2k−1) )],where σ is a permutation of {1, . . . , 2k −1} and ΩM is the curvature of the Levi-Civita
connection on M . The tangent vectors Xi are vector fields in M along γ, so we seethat this form will vanish if 2k − 1 > dim(M ).
We would like to use CSkw to detect odd cohomology in H ∗ (LM, C). We need atest cycle in degree 2k − 1. The natural candidate is M itself, thought of as the setof constant loops. However, for these loops γ̇ = 0, so (4.3) vanishes. Instead, assume
that M admits an S 1 -action a : S 1 × M −→ M. This induces a map ã : M −→ LMby ã(m)(θ) = a(θ, m). Dropping the tilde, the action now produces a test cyclea∗ [M ] ∈ H2k−1 (LM, Z), where [M ] is the fundamental class of M , which is assumed
orientable.
(For theR trivial action, a∗ [M ] is M as constant loops.)
R
If a∗ [M ] CSkw = M a∗ CSkw is nonzero, then CSkw 6= 0 in the cohomology of LM .
The computation of the integral is frustrating: it always vanishes in the easiest casedim(M ) = 3; in higher dimensions, most explicit Riemannian
metrics come with large
Rcontinuous symmetry groups, and in all examples we get a∗ [M ] CSkw = 0, although wecannot prove a general vanishing theorem. Fortunately, there is a family gt , t ∈ (0, 1),of Sasaki–Einstein metrics on S 2 × S 3 due to [15] which is explicit enough and hasenough symmetry to make the integral calculation feasible but which is not “toosymmetric.” In particular, this construction gives a metric fibration S 1 −→ S 2 ×
S 3 −→ S 2 × S 2 generalizing the Hopf fibration, so we get a circle action by rotating
the fiber. The calculations can be done in closed form by Mathematica c . We get

CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL LIE GROUPS

17

R

CSkw 6= 0, and so with a little work we conclude that H 5 (L(S 2 × S 3 ), C) is
infinite.
A circle action a on M also induces ã : S 1 −→ Diff(M ) byR ã(θ)(m) = a(θ, m), so
we get an element of π1 (Diff(M )). It is easy to check that a∗ [M ] CSkw 6= 0 implies
π1 (Diff(M )) is infinite. In particular, π1 (Diff(S 2 × S 3 )) is infinite.
We tend to trust the computer calculations, as in the t −→ 0 limit the metric gt
becomes a metric on S 5 and the integral explicitly vanishes. This matches with the
known result that π1 (Diff(S 5 )) is finite. On the other hand, up to factors of π, theintegrals calculated are always rational; this needs further explanation.
a∗ [M ]

Remark 4.4. (i) While there is nothing in theory to stop us from computing WCS
classes for Maps(N, M ), in practice the number of computations necessary to compute
the Wodzicki residue of an operator on N n increases exponentially in n. So while
computations are feasible for loop spaces and Maps(Σ2 , M ), the setting for string
theory, one needs a very good reason to do computations on higher-dimensional source
manifolds.
(ii) These results are too specific. If one can show that the Wodzicki–Chern forms
always vanish pointwise, then a much more robust theory of WCS classes would beavailable.
5. Characteristic classes for diffeomorphism groups
The search for characteristic classes associated to the diffeomorphism group of aclosed manifold X can be interpreted in two ways: (i) Diff(X) is an open subset
of Maps(X, X), and so as in Section 3 characteristic classes can be used to detectelements of H ∗ (Diff(X), C); (ii) certain infinite rank bundles have Diff(X) as part oftheir structure group. In this section we consider the first question, and in Section 6
we treat (ii).
First, the proof that cohomology classes for Maps(X, X) are detected by characteristic classes of X (Prop. 3.8) does not carry over to Diff(X). Indeed, the proof
should break down, since as in finite dimensions the Lie group Diff(X) admits a flat
connection and so has vanishing leading order symbol classes. (As usual, there aretechnicalities about the Lie group structure on Diff(X), which are most easily treatedby considering H s diffeomorphisms.)
Thus we expect to find only secondary classes. We now outline a method that may
produces odd degree classes in H ∗ (Diff(X), C).
The cohomology ring H ∗ (U (n), Z) is generated by suitably normalized Chern–
Simons classes, as the standard forms tr((g −1 dg)2k−1 ) built from the Maurer–Cartan
form g −1 dg are the Chern–Simons forms for ck associated to the flat connection ∇on the trivial bundle U (n) × gl(n, C) and to the gauge equivalent connection g −1 ∇g[29]. Here we think of g as the gauge transformation M 7→ g · M for M ∈ gl(n, C).
There are similar results for other classical linear groups; see e.g., [34, Ch. 4.11] andthe Bourbaki references therein, [8], particularly the references to the original work

18

S. ROSENBERG

of Hopf, and [18, Ch. 3D] for a modern treatment for SO(n). Moreover, a certain
average of these forms along loops in G give generators for H ∗ (LG, Z) [34].
In finite dimensions, identifying the Maurer–Cartan form with a gauge transformation requires an embedding G −→ GL(N, C). For G = Diff(X), we can embed
i : G −→ GL(Γ(C N )), where C N = X × CN is the trivial bundle over X, GL refers
to bounded operators with bounded inverses, and Γ(C N ) refers to H s sections. The
embedding is given by i(φ)(s)(x) = s(φ−1 x). Now φ makes sense as a gauge transformation of the trivial bundle Diff(X) × Γ(C N ) via s 7→ i(φ)(s).
We can now define the Maurer–Cartan form φ−1 dφ for φ ∈ Diff(X). As in Section 4,
we will get secondary classes in H odd (Diff(X), C) associated to the trivial connection∇ and φ−1 ∇φ once we pick an AdG -invariant function on Lie(Diff(X)). Since a familyof diffeomorphisms φt starting at the identity has infinitesimal information φ̇0 , a vector
field on X, we have Lie(Diff(X)) = Γ(T X). The adjoint action of a diffeomorphism
φ on a vector field V is easily seen to be V 7→ φ∗ V .
Open Question: Find a nontrivial AdDiff(X) -invariant function on the set of (H s )vector fields on a closed manifold X.
Remark 5.1. (i) Because the adjoint action is not by conjugation, finding a trace onΓ(T X) does not produce secondary classes. It seems to be an open question whether
there exist any nontrivial traces on Γ(T X) for general X. If X = G is itself a compact
linear Lie group, there are many traces on TI Diff(G) = Γ(T G). Namely, a vector field
V on G is just a g-valued function on G, so for any distribution f ∈ D(G), f (tr(V ))is a trace. This case needs further work.
(ii) There is another context in which this Open Question comes up. Diff(X) isthe structure group for fibrations X −→ M −→ B of manifolds with fibers X, so
characteristic classes associated to Diff(X) would be obstructions to the triviality ofa fibration, just as ordinary characteristic classes as obstructions to the triviality ofprincipal G-bundles.
Thus this general approach to secondary classes for Diff(X) is unavailable atpresent. However, for X = G a compact linear Lie group, we can detect odd degree classes in H ∗ (Diff(X), C) using finite rank bundles. Let α : G −→ Diff(G) be
the embedding g 7→ Lg , for Lg left translation by g. The trivial rank bundle C1N =Diff(G) × gl(N, C) admits the gauge transformation φ ∈ Diff(G) 7→ (M 7→ φ(e)M ).
This gauge transformation, also denoted by φ, restricts to the gauge transformation
g on α(G) ⊂ Diff(G) since Lg (e) = g. The bundle C1N has the trivial connection ∇1 .
The gauge transformed connection ∇φ1 = φ−1 ∇1 φ has the global connection one-form
φ−1 dφ, which restricts to g −1 dg on α(G). On the finite-rank bundle α(G), we use theordinary matrix trace to define Chern–Simons forms
CS 2k−1 (∇1 , ∇φ1 ) = tr((φ−1 dφ)2k−1 ).

CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL LIE GROUPS

19

We can also define Chern–Simons classes for ∇g on C N by the same formula. A
straightforward calculation gives
Z
Z
φ
2k−1
CS
(∇1 , ∇1 ) =CS 2k−1 (∇, ∇g )α(z2k−1 )z2k−1

for any (2k − 1)-chain z2k−1 on G. This implies
Theorem 5.2. [29] For any compact linear group G, the map α : G −→ Diff(G),g 7→ Lg , induces a surjection α∗ : H ∗ (Diff(G), R) −→ H ∗ (G, R).
Dualizing this result, we see that the real homology of G injects into the homology
of Diff(G). As with mapping spaces, we expect nontrivial homology in infinitely manydegrees, but these techniques only give information up to dim(G).
6. Characteristic classes and the Families Index Theorem
As explained below, the families index theorem (FIT) is a generalization of the
Atiyah–Singer index theorem. Infinite rank superbundles E naturally appear in the
setup of the FIT. In this section we discuss how a theory of characteristic classes on E
may give insight into the FIT. In particular, the relevant structure group incorporates
aspects of gauge groups, diffeomorphism groups, and the group Ψ∗0 of pseudodifferential operators discussed in previous sections. This section is based on [21].
The bundle E was explicitly mentioned by Atiyah and Singer [3] as a topologicalobject, but was not used in their proof. Bismut [5] used E as a geometric object, inthat he constructed what is now called the Bismut superconnection on E. Bismut did
not define characteristic classes for E, because he did not need them: the fine detailsof his proof take place on the sections of a finite rank bundle, the model fiber of E
(see Remark 6.3). In this section we try to define characteristic classes directly on
E. The hope, not yet realized, is that not only is E a proper setting for the FIT, butthat a proof of the FIT can take place on E.
We recall the basic setup, inevitably leaving out a slew of technicalities. Let Z −→π
M −→ B be a fibration of closed connected manifolds, and let E, F −→ M be
finite rank bundles. Set Zb = π −1 (b), Eb = E|Zb , Fb = F |Zb . Assume that we havea smoothly varying family of elliptic operators Db : Γ(Eb ) −→ Γ(Fb ). Although thedimensions of the kernel and cokernel of Db need not be continuous in b, the index
ind(Db ) = dim ker(Db ) − dim coker(Db ) is constant. It is therefore plausible andindeed true that the virtual bundle IND(D) = [ker(Db )] − [coker(Db )] ∈ K(B) is welldefined.
Although the FIT can be stated entirely within K-theory, it is easier to state it as
an equality in cohomology. The Chern character ch : K(B) ⊗ Q −→ H ev (B, Q) is an
isomorphism, and the FIT identifies ch(IND(D)) with an explicit characteristic classbuilt from the symbols of the Db .
Even the case where B = {b} is a point is highly nontrivial. In this case,ch(IND(D)) = ind(Db ) ∈ H 0 ({b}, Q) = Q

20

S. ROSENBERG(of course the index is an integer). Identifying the corresponding characteristicclass gives the “ordinary” Atiyah–Singer index theorem, which generalizes Riemann–
Roch type theorems for smooth varieties and the Chern–Gauss–Bonnet theorem.
Thus in the appearance of a base parameter space, the FIT is a smooth version
of Grothendieck–Riemann–Roch theorems.
Rather than discussing the characteristic classes built from the symbols of general
Db , we will discuss the particular case of families of coupled Dirac operators; infact, a K-theory argument shows that proving the FIT for coupled Dirac operators
implies the full FIT. (Coupled Dirac operators are discussed in e.g., [24].) So assume
that M and every fiber Zb are orientable and spin in a compatible way, and that
E = S + ⊗ K, F = S − ⊗ K, where S ± are the spinor bundles for M and K is yet
another bundle over M . Put a metric on M ; the restriction of the metric to each Zb
defines a Dirac operator on Sb± . Put a connection ∇K on K. This induces connections
K∇b on each Kb , and gives a family of coupledR Dirac operators ∂/∇ = ∂/∇b : Eb −→ Fb .
Let Â(M ) be the Â-genus of M , and let Z denote integration over the fiber (i.e.,
capping with Z as a class in H∗ (M, Q)).
R
Theorem 6.1. (FIT) ch(IND(∂/∇ )) = Z Â(M ) ∪ ch(K) in H ev (B, Q).
If π! : K(M ) −→ K(B) is the analytic pushforward map, which by definition sends
H
H to IND(∂/∇ ), then the FIT can be restated as the commutativity of the diagramchK(M ) −−−→ H ev (M, Q)R Â ∪ (·)
π! y
yZ
ch

K(B) −−−→ H ev (B, Q).
As in the last section, the structure group of the fibration is Diff(Z), but there
is more going on. The bundle E −→ M pushes down to the infinite rank bundleπ∗ E = E −→ B, where the fiber Eb is the smooth sections of Eb . (Thus E is the sheaf
theoretic pushdown of the sheaf Γ(E).) It is easy to check that Eb is modeled on Γ(F )pfor some bundle F −→ Z of rank equal to rank(E).
The structure group of E is


f


F
−
−
−
→
F







G = py.
py : φ ∈ Diff(Z), f |Fz a linear isomorphism






φ
Z −−−→ Z
This just says that when fibers of M are glued by a diffeomorphism of Z over b ∈ B,
Eb must be glued by a bundle isomorphism. G is called Diff(Z, F ) in [3]. Thesetransition maps act pointwise on Γ(F ) (within a fixed Sobolev class), the model
space for the fibers of E, by
s 7→ f sφ−1 , i.e., s 7→ [z 7→ f (z)(s(φ−1 (z)))].

CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL LIE GROUPS

21

We note that this equation defines a faithful action of G on Γ(F ), which is a Hilbert
space once we fix a Sobolev class of sections. The tangent space to G at a pair (φ, f )is given by [31]:sF −−−→ f ∗ T F









∗p
p
f
: s|Fz linear .
T(φ,f ) G = y
∗y






V
∗
Z −−−→ φ T ZThis follows from thinking of φ as an element of Maps(Z, Z) and similarly for f , andcalculating as in previous sections. In particular, the Lie algebra g = T(id,id) G is


s


F
−
−
−
→
T
F







p∗ y : s|Fz linear.
g = py






V
Z −−−→ T Z
The difficulty of implementing Chern–Weil theory is the following:
Open question: Find a nontrivial AdG -invariant function on g.
Remark 6.2. (i) The subgroup of G where φ is the identity is precisely the gauge
group G(F ) of F , so we are looking for generalizations of the invariant functions in
Section 3. The structure group restricts to G(F ) if the fibration Z −→ M −→ B istrivial. In particular, if the fibration is N −→ Maps(N, M ) × N −→ Maps(N, M )and E = ev∗ T M −→ Maps(N, M ), then E is precisely T Maps(N, M ).
(ii) As a subcase of (i), fix a compact group G, let E be a trivial G-bundle, and
let S 1 −→ M = B × S 1 −→ B be a trivial circle fibration. Then G(F ) is the loop
group LG. This so-called caloron correspondence between G-bundles over M andLG-bundles over B is discussed thoroughly in [30] and goes back to work of Garlandand Murray [14]. In particular, characteristic classes for LG-bundles are constructedby Murray and Vozzo in [30]; the characteristic classes treated below reduce to the
Murray–Vozzo classes in this case.
We can avoid answering the Open Question and still define characteristic classes
in a restricted sense. We first recall the construction of a connection on E due toBismut [5]. Let HM be a complement to the vertical bundle V M = ker π∗ in T M.
For example, if we have chosen a metric on M , we can take HM = (V M )⊥ . Recall
that E −→ M has a connection ∇E ; for a given hermitian metric on E, we may
assume that ∇E is a hermitian connection. The Bismut connection ∇ = ∇B on
E −→ B is defined by∇X r(b)(z) = ∇E
(6.1)
X H r̃(b, z),−1H
where X ∈ Tb B, r ∈ Γ(E), z ∈ π (b), X is the horizontal lift of X to HM(b,z) , andr̃ ∈ Γ(E) is defined by r̃(b, z) = r(b)(z). (Here we abuse notation a little by writing(b, z), which assumes that a local trivialization of Z −→ M −→ B has been given.)22

S. ROSENBERG

Remark 6.3. We outline Bismut’s heat equation proof of the FIT. Bismut first adjusts∇B to be unitary with respect to the L2 hermitian metric on E. He then modifies the
new connection in a nontrivial way to form a superconnection ∇t on E for t > 0. The“curvature” two-form ∇2t acts fiberwise on E, just as for finite rank bundles, and takes
values in smoothing (and hence trace class) operators. As t −→ ∞, the form-valued
operator trace Tr(∇2t ) converges to a representative of the Chern character of theindex bundle; this step is not too difficult in light of the original heat equation proofof the index theorem. As t −→ 0, Tr(∇2t ) converges nontrivially to the differential
form representative of the right hand side of the FIT. It is not hard to show that the
two limits differ by an exact form, so their cohomology classes are the same.
This is called the local form of the FIT, since the proof generates the specificcharacteristic forms in the right cohomology class.
The (easy) Bismut connection fits into the Atiyah–Singer framework as follows:
Lemma 6.4. [21] The Bismut connection is a G-connection. In a fixed local trivialization, the connection one-form assigns to X ∈ Tb B the pair (V, s) ∈ g, whereV = φ̇t (0) = X H and s(v)(b,z) = (d/dt)t=0 k0,t (z)v.
Here the parallel translation k0,t for the Bismut connection is thought of as abundle isomorphism of F via a local trivialization. The proof directly shows that theholonomy of the Bismut connection lies in G.
This suggests that if we can define the Chern character for connections on E forthe coupled Dirac operator case (i.e., E is the superbundle associated to (S + ⊗ K)
⊕ (S − ⊗ K) ), then we could try to prove the local FIT by showing(i) For the (easy) Bismut connection on RE, the representative differential formch(ΩB ) of the Chern character ch(E) equals Z Â(ΩM )ch(ΩK ), where ΩM is the curvature of the Levi-Civita connection for the metric on M , and ΩK is the curvature of
the connection on K.
K(ii) There exists a connection on E for which ch(E) = ch(IND(∂/∇ )) ∈ H ev (B, Q).
Since the Chern character should be independent of the connection on E, this would
give the FIT.
As we will now see, step (i) fails, but in a very precise way.
For a fixed hermitian connection ∇E on E, the associated Bismut connection has
curvature two-form ΩB taking values in g, so we can write ΩB (X, Y ) = (V, s) for
X, Y ∈ Tb B, V ∈ Γ(T Z), and s ∈ Γ(T F ). With respect to a local trivialization, we canconsider s ∈ Γ(T Eb ). The connection ∇E induces a connection on Eb , or equivalently
gives a splitting T Eb = V Eb ⊕ HEb . The vertical component (ΩB )v = sv ∈ V Eb cannaturally be identified with a map sv : Eb −→ Eb . Since s covers V , it easily follows
that sv ∈ End(Eb ), i.e., sv is a fiberwise endomorphism of Eb . Thus we can create
forms
Z
v k
2k−dim(Z)B
b 7→ ck (Ωb ) =tr((ΩB(B).
(6.2)
b ) ) ∈ ΛZ

CHERN–WEIL THEORY FOR CERTAIN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL LIE GROUPS

23

We claim that these forms are closed and have de Rham class independent of the
choice of ∇ on E. To see this, first note that it is well known and not difficult tocompute that the Bismut connection on E has curvature
E H
HΩB (ξ1 , ξ2 ) = ∇E
T (ξ H ,ξ H ) + R (ξ1 , ξ2 ),
1

2

(6.3)

with T (ξ1H , ξ2H ) = [ξ1 , ξ2 ]H − [ξ1H , ξ2H ] and RE the curvature of ∇E . Moreover, the firstterm on the right-hand side of (6.3) is horizontal and the second term is vertical withrespect to the splitting of T Eb . Thus (ΩB )v = RE . Then for k = 1 for simplicity, we
have
Z
Z
Z
B v
E
dB
tr(Ω ) =dM tr(R ) =tr ∇Hom (RE )Z
Z
ZZtr[∇, RE ] = 0.
=
E

Hom

Z
E

The equality dM tr(R ) = tr ∇(R ) is an easy calculation using the fact that RE
is skew-hermitian, and the last line uses the Bianchi identity.
Thus we have constructed characteristic classes, and in particular a Chern character, for the restricted class of Bismut connections without finding AdG -invariant
functions on g. Note that in the case of Remark 6.2, these classes reduce to theclasses discussed in Section 3, since for gauge transformations Ω = Ωv .
The Chern character of the infinite rank superbundle associated to a family of
coupled Dirac operators is
Z
Z
+
−
E
ch(ΩS −S ) ∪ ch(ΩK ).
ch(R ) =(6.4)
ch(E) =
Z
S + −S −Since we have ch(ΩZ

) and not Â(ΩM ), this is not what we wanted!

Despite this failure, we now see what we can do with step (ii). We want to mimic
the usual “cancellation of nonzero eigenspaces” in the heat equation proof of the index
theorem, i.e., we want a connection that respects the splittingK⊥(S + ⊗ K)b = ker(∂/∇b ) ⊕ ker+ ,K⊥−
where ker⊥/∇
+ equals (ker(∂b )) , and similarly for S ⊗ K. This perpendicular compoKK
nent is spanned by the eigensections of ∂/∇ = ∂/+ with nonzero eigenvalues, and ∂/∇is an isomorphism between these eigenspaces. For this connection, we expect that⊥ch(ker⊥+ ) = ch(ker− ) as forms computed with respect to this split connection. This
would imply
K

K

K

⊥
⊥
ch(IND(∂/∇ )) = ch(ker(∂/∇/∇+ )) + ch(ker+ ) − ch(ker(∂− )) − ch(ker− ) = ch(E). (6.5)

This would finish (ii).
The natural choice for such a connection is given by orthogonally projecting the
Bismut connection to the kernel and its perpendicular complement. The problem isKthat the isomophism ∂/∇: (ker∂/+ )⊥ −→ (ker∂/− )⊥ is not a G-isomorphism, since+

24

S. ROSENBERG
K

K

with its uniis far from an element of G. However, we can replace D = ∂/∇
∂/∇
+
+
u
∗
1/2
u
tarization D = D/|D D|
on these complements. D is a zero order invertible
pseudodifferential operator, precisely the type of operator treated in Section 4.
This motivates extending the structure group to a semidirect product G̃ = G n Ψ∗0 ,with G acting on Ψ∗0 by conjugation. We have to extend our definition of characteristicclasses from G to G̃, but this is straightforward based on the earlier work: for a G̃connection with curvature Ω̃ = (V, s, B) ∈ g̃ (so B ∈ Ψ≤0 ), we consider expressions
likeZZv ∇b ktr((σ0 (B))k ).
tr((s ) )dvolM/B +Zb

Zb

It is now straightforward to check that (6.5) holds. However, we are not claimingthat the Chern character form for this projected connection in (6.5) is closed. Even
if it is, we are definitely not claiming that it is cohomologous to the Chern character
form in (6.5), as this would give the wrong formula for the FIT.
Despite the glaring problems with these arguments, we see that when we try toprove the FIT directly on E, the extended structure group G̃ naturally occurs.
Remark 6.5. Recall that the starting point for Donaldson theory is the moduli space
A/G, where A = A(F ) is the space of connections on F and G = G(F ) is thegauge group. The action of G on A, g · ∇ = g∇g −1 , extends to an action of G by
(φ, f ) · ∇ = f (φ−1 )∗ ∇f −1 , since for φ = Id, f is a gauge transformation.
Thus it is natural to consider the moduli space A/G. However, this space seems
to be a fat point in the following sense.
Conjecture 6.6. [21] The orbit of a generic connection is dense.
An example of a nongeneric connection is a flat connection. As justification for the
conjecture, it can be shown that the normal space to the G-orbit O∇ in the L2 metricon T∇ A = Λ1 (Z, End(F )) is{α ∈ Λ1 (Z, End(F )) : ∇∗ α = 0 and RF (·, V )z ⊥ αz , ∀z ∈ Z, ∀V ∈ Tz Z}.
(The equation ∇∗ α = 0 is the equation for the normal space to the gauge orbit of ∇.)It is plausible that for a generic connection, the curvature equation RF (·, V )z ⊥ αz
and its higher covariant derivatives form an overdetermined system of equations, andso has only the zero solution. We expect standard gauge theory techniques to help
prove the conjecture.
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