On Perrot's index cocycles

Abstract

We shall present a simplified version of a construction due to Denis Perrot that recovers the Todd class of the complexified tangent bundle from a JLO-type cyclic cocycle. The construction takes place within an algebraic framework, rather than the customary functional-analytic framework for the JLO theory. The series expansion for the exponential function is used in place of the heat kernel from the functional-analytic theory; the Dirac operator chosen is far from elliptic; and a remarkable new trace discovered by Perrot replaces the operator trace. In its full form Perrot's theory constitutes a wholly new approach to index theory. The account presented here covers most but not all of this approach.