Analytic torsion for twisted de Rham complexes

Abstract

We define analytic torsion for the twisted de Rham complex, consisting of the spaces of differential forms on a compact oriented Riemannian manifold X valued in a flat vector bundle E, with a differential given by a flat connection on E plus an odd-degree closed differential form H on X. The difficulty lies in the fact that the twisted de Rham complex is only Z_2-graded, and so the definition of analytic torsion in this case uses pseudo-differential operators and residue traces. We show that when dim X is odd, then the twisted analytic torsion is independent of the choice of metrics on X and E and of the representative H in the cohomology class of H. We define twisted analytic torsion in the context of generalized geometry and show that when H is a 3-form, the deformation H -> H - dB, where B is a 2-form on X, is equivalent to deforming a usual metric g to a generalized metric (g,B). We establish some basic functorial properties. When H is a top-degree form, we compute the torsion, define its simplicial counterpart and prove an analogue of the Cheeger-Muller Theorem. We also study the relationship of the analytic torsion for T-dual circle bundles with integral 3-form fluxes.