Characteristic classes of foliations via SAYD-twisted cocycles

Abstract

We have previously shown that the truncated Weil algebra of any Lie algebra is a Hopf-cyclic type complex with nontrivial coefficients. In this paper we apply this result to transfer the characteristic classes of transversely orientable foliations into the cyclic cohomology of the groupoid action algebra. Our result in codimension 1 matches with the only existing explicit computation done by Connes-Moscovici. In codimension 2 case, we carry out a constructive and explicit computation, by which we present the transverse fundamental class, the Godbillon-Vey class, and the other four residual classes as cyclic cocycles on the groupoid action algebra. The main object in charge in this new characteristic map is a SAYD-twisted cyclic cocycle of the same degree as the codimension. We construct such a cocycle by introducing an equivariant Hopf-cyclic cohomology and an equivariant cup product.