The families Clifford index and differential KO-theory

Abstract: Extending ideas of Atiyah--Bott--Shapiro and Quillen, we construct a model for differential $\rm KO$-theory whose cocycles are families of Clifford modules with superconnection. The model is built to accommodate an analytic pushforward for bundles of spin manifolds, affording a differential refinement of Atiyah and Singer's families index.