A Local Index Theorem of Transversal Type on Manifolds with Locally Free $\mathbb{S}^1$-action

Abstract: We study an index of a transversal Dirac operator on an odd-dimensional manifold $X$ with locally free $\mathbb{S}^1$-action. One difficulty of using heat kernel method lies in the understanding of the asymptotic expansion as $t\to 0^+$. By a probabilistic approach via the Feynman-Kac formula, the transversal heat kernel on $X$ can be linked to the ordinary heat kernel for functions on the orbifold $M=X/\mathbb{S}^1$ which is more tractable. After some technical results for a uniform bound estimate as $t\to 0^+$, we are reduced from the transversal, orbifold situation to the classical situation particularly at points of the principal stratum. One application asserts that for a certain class of spin orbifolds $M$, to the classical index problem of Kawasaki in the Riemannian setting the net contributions arising from the lower-dimensional strata beyond the principal one vanish identically.