The first conformal Dirac eigenvalue on 2-dimensional tori

Abstract

Let M be a compact manifold with a spin structure χand a Riemannian metric g. Let λ_g^2 be the smallest eigenvalue of the square of the Dirac operator with respect to g and χ. The τ-invariant is defined as τ(M,χ):= sup inf \sqrt{λ_g^2} Vol(M,g)^{1/n} where the supremum runs over the set of all conformal classes on M, and where the infimum runs over all metrics in the given class. We show that τ(T^2,χ)=2\sqrtπ if χis ``the'' non-trivial spin structure on T^2. In order to calculate this invariant, we study the infimum as a function on the spin-conformal moduli space and we show that the infimum converges to 2\sqrtπ at one end of the spin-conformal moduli space.