Joint torsion equals the determinant invariant

Abstract

A determinant in algebraic $K$-theory is associated to any two almost commuting Fredholm operators. On the other hand, one can calculate a homologically defined invariant known as joint torsion. We answer in the affirmative a conjecture of Richard Carey and Joel Pincus, namely that these two invariants agree. In particular, this implies that joint torsion is norm continuous, depends only on the images of the operators modulo trace class, and satisfies the expected Steinberg relations. Moreover, we show that the determinant invariant of two commuting operators can be computed simply as a determinant on a finite dimensional vector space.