Adiabatic groupoids and secondary invariants in K-theory

Abstract

In this paper we define K-theoretic secondary invariants attached to a Lie groupoid $G$. The K-theory of $C^*_r(G_{ad}^0)$ (where $G_{ad}^0$ is the adiabatic deformation $G$ restricted to the interval $[0,1)$) is the receptacle for K-theoretic secondary invariants. We give a Lie groupoid version of construction given by Piazza and Schick in the setting of the Coarse Geometry. Our construction directly generalises to more involved geometrical situation, such as foliations, well encoded by a Lie groupoid. Along the way we tackle the problem of producing a wrong-way functoriality between adiabatic deformation groupoid K-groups with respect to transverse maps. This extends the construction of the lower shriek map given by Connes and Skandalis. Moreover we attach a secondary invariant to the two following operators: the signature operator on a pair of homotopically equivalent Lie groupoids; the Dirac operator on a Lie groupoid equipped with a metric that has positive scalar curvature $s$-fiber-wise. Furthermore we prove a Lie groupoid version of the Delocalized APS Index Theorem of Piazza and Schick. Finally we give a product formula for the secondary invariants and we state stability results about cobordism classes of Lie groupoid structures and bordism classes of Lie groupoid metric with positive scalar curvature along the $s$-fibers. This is the revised version accepted by Advances in Mathematics.