Relative K-homology of higher-order differential operators

Abstract

We extend the notion of a spectral triple to that of a higher-order relative spectral triple, which accommodates several types of hypoelliptic differential operators on manifolds with boundary. The bounded transform of a higher-order relative spectral triple gives rise to a relative K-homology cycle. In the case of an elliptic differential operator on a compact smooth manifold with boundary, we calculate the K-homology boundary map of the constructed relative K-homology cycle to obtain a generalization of the Baum-Douglas-Taylor index theorem.