Math. Ann.

313, 763783 (1999)

Mathematische
Annalen

c Springer-Verlag 1999

Adiabatic limits and spectral geometry of foliations

Yuri A. Kordyukov
Department of Mathematics, Ufa State Aviation Technical University, 12, K.Marx str.,
450000 Ufa, Russia ( e-mail: yurikor@math.ugatu.ac.ru )
Received: 20 August 1995 / in revised form: 28 January 1998

Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): 58G25, 35P20

1. Introduction
Let (M, F) be a closed foliated manifold, dim M = n, dim F = p, p + q =
n, equipped with a Riemannian metric gM . We assume that the foliation F is
Riemannian, and the metric gM is bundle-like. Let F = T F be the integrable
distribution of tangent p-planes to F, and H = F be the orthogonal
complement
to F . The decomposition of T M into a direct sum, T M =
L
F
H, induces a decomposition of the metric gM : gM = gF + gH . For
any h > 0, let h , h > 0, be the Laplace operator on differential forms
defined by a metric gh on M , given by the formula gh = gF + h2 gH . The
operator h is an elliptic differential operator with the positive definite,
scalar principal symbol, which is self-adjoint and has discrete spectrum in
the Hilbert space L2 (M, T M, gh ). The main result of the paper is an
asymptotical formula for the eigenvalue distribution function Nh () of the
operator h :
Nh () = ]{i (h) spec h : i (h) }.
Theorem 1. Let (M, F) be a compact Riemannian foliated manifold, equipped with a bundle-like Riemannian metric gM . Then the asymptotical formula for Nh () has the following form:
Z
(4)q/2
q
Nh () = h
( )q/2 d NF ( ) + o(hq ), h 0,
((q/2) + 1)
(1)

764

Y.A. Kordyukov

where NF () is the spectrum distribution function of the tangential Laplace

operator F (see (7) and (21) for the definitions).
We refer the reader to Sect. 5 for a detailed formulation of this Theorem.
We state also the asymptotical formula for the trace of the operator f (h )
for any function f Cc (R) (see Theorems 2 and 3 below).
The study of the asymptotical behaviour of geometric objects (like as
harmonic forms, eta-invariants etc.) associated with a family of Riemannian
metrics on fibrations as the metrics become singular was stimulated by
Wittens work on adiabatic limits [28]. For further developments see, for
instance, [23, 9, 11, 12] and references there.
In the spectral theory of differential operators, problems in question are
related with the Born-Oppenheimer approximation which consists in that
the Schrodinger operator for a polyatomic molecule is considered in the
semiclassical limit where the mass ratio of electronic to nuclear mass tends
to zero (see, for instance, [16] and references there). In particular, the result
on semiclassical asymptotics for the spectrum distribution function in the
fibration case is, essentially, due to [3].
The investigation of semiclassical spectral asymptotics for foliations was
started by the author in [17, 18, 20]. There we considered the problem in the
operator setting, that is, we studied spectral asymptotics for a self-adjoint
hypoelliptic operator Ah of the form Ah = A + hm B, where A is a tangentially elliptic operator of order > 0 with the positive tangential principal
symbol, and B is a differential operator of order m on M with the positive,
holonomy invariant transversal principal symbol, and obtained an asymptotical formula for the spectrum distribution function of this operator when
h tends to zero.
The goal of this work is to adapt our results on semiclassical spectral
asymptotics to the geometric setting of adiabatic limits on foliations.
An interesting observation related with the asymptotical formula (1) is
that its right-hand side depends only on leafwise spectral data of the tangential Laplace operator F . So, in the case when the leafwise spectrum of F
doesnt coincide with its spectrum in L2 space on the ambient manifold M
(it might be a case if the foliation F is nonamenable, [19]), there is a > 0
such that Nh () 6= 0 but
lim hq Nh () = 0.

h0

(2)

The asymptotic behaviour of Nh () allows us to introduce spectral characteristics rk () of the leafwise Laplacian related with adiabatic limits. We
might expect that some invariants of the function rk () near = 0 are
independent of the choice of metric on M , and, moreover, be topological or
homotopic invariants of foliated manifolds (just as in the case of NovikovShubin invariants [13]). We discuss these questions and their relationships

Adiabatic limits on foliations

765

with the spectral theory of leafwise Laplacian in Sect. 7 and with noncommutative spectral geometry of foliations in [21].
The organization of the paper is as follows.
In Sect. 2, we recall necessary facts, concerning to differential operators
on foliated manifolds.
In the Sects. 3 and 4, we formulate and prove the asymptotical formula
for tr f (h ) when h tends to zero for any function f C0 (R).
In Sect. 5, we rewrite the asymptotical formula of Sect. 3 in terms of
spectral characteristics of the operator F . In particular, this enables us to
complete a proof of Theorem 1 on the asymptotic behaviour of the eigenvalue
distribution function.
Finally, in Sect. 6 we discuss some results and examples related with the
asymptotical behaviour of individual eigenvalues of the operator h when
h tends to zero.
2. Differential operators on foliated manifolds
Let (M, F) be a compact foliated manifold, F be the tangential distribution
to F. The embedding F T M induces an embedding of algebras of
differential operators D (F) D (M ), and differential operators on M
obtained in such a way are called tangential differential operators.
More generally, let E be an Hermitian vector bundle on M . We say that a
linear differential operator A of order acting on C (M, E) is a tangential
operator, if, in any foliated chart : I p I q M (I = (0, 1) is the open
interval) and any trivialization of the bundle E over it, A is of the form
X
A=
a (x, y)Dx , (x, y) I p I q ,
||

with a , being matrix valued functions on I p I q . Let D (F, E) denote the

(M, E).
set of all tangential differential operators of order acting in CP
m,
We say that A D (M, F, E) if A is of the form A = B C ,
where B Dm (M, E), C D (F, E). From symbolic calculus, it can
be easily seen that:
(1) if A1 Dm1 ,1 (M, F, E), A2 Dm2 ,2 (M, F, E), then A1 A2
Dm1 +m2 ,1 +2 (M, F, E);
(2) if A Dm, (M, F, E), then the adjoint A Dm, (M, F, E).
Remark 1. It should be noted that classes Dm, (M, F, E) can be extended
to classes of pseudodifferential operators m, (M, F, E), which contain,
for instance, parametrices for elliptic operators from the classes Dm, (M,
F, E). We dont use them here and refer the interested reader to [19] (see
also [20]) for details.

766

Y.A. Kordyukov

Next, recall the definition of the scale of Sobolev type spaces

H s,k (M, F, E), s R, k R, corresponding to classes Dm, (M, F, E)
[19, 20].
The space H s,k (Rn , Rp , Cr ) consists of all Cr -valued tempered distribu L2loc (Rn , Cr ) (
u the Fourier transform)
tions u S 0 (Rn , Cr ) such that u
and
Z Z
2
kuks,k =
|
u(, )|2 (1 + ||2 + ||2 )s (1 + ||2 )k dd < . (3)
The identity (3) serves as a definition of a norm k ks,k in H s,k (Rn , Rp , Cr ).
The space H s,k (M, F, E) consists of all u D0 (M, E) such that, for
any foliated coordinate chart : I p I q U = (I p I q ) M , any
trivialization of the bundle E over it, and for any Cc (U ), the function
(u) belongs to the space H s,k (Rn , Rp , Cr ) (r = rank E). Fix some
finite covering {Ui : i = 1, . . . , d} of M by foliated coordinate patches
with foliated coordinate charts i : I p I q Ui = i (I p I q ) and
trivializations of the bundle E over them, and a partition of unity {i
C (M ) : i = 1, . . . , d} subordinate to this covering. A scalar product in
H s,k (M, F, E) is defined by the formula
(u, v)s,k =

d
X

( (i u), (i v))s,k , u, v H s,k (M, F, E).

i=1

Operators of classes Dm, (M, F, E) acts in the spaces H s,k (M, F, E) in

the following way (see [19, 20] for a proof in the scalar case):
Proposition 1. An operator A Dm, (M, F, E) defines a linear bounded
operator from H s,k (M, F, E) to H sm,k (M, F, E) for any s R, k
R.
Now let us turn to properties of geometric operators on the foliated
manifold (M, F). Let H be the orthogonal complement to F , so
M
F
H = T M.
(4)
The decomposition (4) induces a bigrading on T M by the formula
k

T M=

k
M

i,ki T M,

i=0

N
where i,j T M = i F j H , i = 1, . . . , p, j = 1, . . . , q.
The de Rham differential d inherits the bigrading (5) in the form
d = dF + dH + .

(5)

Adiabatic limits on foliations

767

Here the tangential de Rham differential dF and the transversal de Rham

differential dH are first order differential operators, and is zeroth order.
Moreover, the operator dF doesnt depend on a choice of the bundle-like
metric gM (see, for instance, [26]).
Recall that h , h > 0, is the Laplace operator on differential forms
defined by the metric gh = gF + h2 gH . We transfer the family h to
the fixed Hilbert space L2 (M, T M, g). For this goal, we introduce an
isometry h : L2 (M, T M, gh ) L2 (M, T M, g), defined, for u
L2 (M, i,j T M, gh ), as h u = hj u. The operator h in the Hilbert space
L2 (M, T M, gh ) corresponds under the isometry h to the operator Lh =
h h h1 in the Hilbert space L2 (M, T M ) = L2 (M, T M, g).
Lemma 1 ([11]). We have
Lh = dh h + h dh ,
where dh = dF + hdH + h2 , and h = F + hH + h2 is the adjoint
to dh with F , H and , being the adjoints to dF , dH and respectively.
Here we consider the adjoints taken in the Hilbert space L2 (M, T M ).
By Lemma 1, the operator Lh is of the following form:
Lh = F + h2 H + h4 1,2 + hK1 + h2 K2 + h3 K3 ,

(6)

where
The operator
F = dF F + F dF D0,2 (M, F, T M )

(7)

is the tangential Laplacian in the space C (M, T M ).

The operator
H = dH H + H dH D2,0 (M, F, T M )

is the transversal Laplacian in the space C (M, T M ).

1,2 = + D0,0 (M, F, T M )).
K1 = dF H + H dF + F dH + dH F D1,0 (M, F, T M ).
K2 = dF + dF + F + F D0,0 (M, F, T M ).
K3 = dH + dH + H + H D1,0 (M, F, T M ).

From now on, we will assume that (M, F) is a Riemannian foliation with
the metric gM , being bundle-like (see, for instance, [26]). The crucial point,
concerning to geometrical operators on a Riemannian foliated manifold, is
that, in this case, the operators dF H + H dF and F dH + dH F belong to
D0,1 (M, F, T M ). In particular, this implies
K1 D0,1 (M, F, T M ).

768

Y.A. Kordyukov

For any h > 0, the operator Lh is a formally self-adjoint, elliptic operator

in L2 (M, T M ) with the positive principal symbol. The following Proposition is a refinement of the classical Garding inequality for the operator
Lh .
Proposition 2. Under current hypotheses, there exist constants C1 > 0,
C2 > 0 and C3 > 0 such that for any h > 0 small enough and for any
u C (M, T M ) we have
(Lh u, u) (1 C1 h2 )(F u, u) + C2 h2 kuk21,0 C3 kuk2 .

(8)

Proof. Let u C (M, T M ). By (6), we have

(Lh u.u) = (F u, u) + h2 (H u, u) + h4 (1,2 u, u)
+h(K1 u, u) + h2 (K2 u, u) + h3 (K3 u, u).
It clear that (1,2 u, u) 0. By Proposition 1, we have
(K2 u, u) C4 kuk2 , (K3 u, u) C5 kuk21,0 .

(9)

So we obtain
(Lh u.u) (F u, u) + h2 (H u, u) + h(K1 u, u) C4 h2 kuk2
C5 h3 kuk21,0 .
(10)
The operator F + H is a second order elliptic operator with the positive
principal symbol, so, by the standard Garding inequality, we have
((F + H )u, u) C6 kuk21,0 C7 kuk2 ,

(11)

that implies the estimate

(Lh u.u) (1 h2 )(F u, u) + C7 h2 kuk21,0 + h(K1 u, u) C8 kuk2 . (12)
Finally, we make use of the inequality
|(K1 u, u)| C7 kuk0,1 kuk C8 (hkuk20,1 + h1 kuk2 )

(13)

and the tangential Garding inequality (see [20])

kuk20,1 C9 ((F u, u) + kuk2 ),
that completes immediately the proof.
Remark 2. In some cases, it is sufficient to use more rough estimate
(Lh u, u) C1 kuk20,1 + C2 h2 kuk21,0 C3 kuk2 , u C (M, T M ),
(14)
which follows from (8), if we apply the standard Sobolev norm estimate to
the term (F u, u).

Adiabatic limits on foliations

769

Let Hh (t) = exp(tLh ), t 0, be the parabolic semigroup of bounded

operators in L2 (M, T M ), generated by Lh . For any t > 0, the operator
Hh (t) is an operator with a smooth kernel. Proposition 2 implies the following norm estimates for operators of this semigroup in H s,k (M, F, T M )
(see also [20]).
Proposition 3. We have the following estimates:
kHh (t)ukr,k Crsk t(skr)/2 hsr kuks , u C (M, T M ),
if r > s, h (0, 1], 0 < t 1, and
kHh (t)uks,k Csk tk/2 kuks , u C (M, T M ).
if r = s, h [0, 1], 0 < t 1, where the constants dont depend on t and
h.
3. Asymptotical formula for functions of the Laplace operator
From now on, we will assume that (M, F) is a Riemannian foliation,
equipped with a bundle-like Riemannian metric gM . In this Section, we
state the asymptotical formula for tr f (h ) when h tends to zero for any
function f C0 (R).
We will denote by GF the holonomy groupoid of (M, F). Let us briefly
recall its definition. Let h be an equivalence relation on the set of leafwise
paths : [0, 1] M , setting 1 h 2 if 1 and 2 have the same initial
and final points and the same holonomy maps. The holonomy groupoid GF
is the set of h equivalence classes of leafwise paths. GF is equipped with
the source and the range maps s, r : GF M defined by s() = (0)
and r() = (1). We will identify a point x M with an element of GF
given by the corresponding constant path: (t) = x, t [0, 1]. Recall also
that, for any x M , the set GxF = { GF : r() = x} is the covering
of the leaf through the point x, associated with the holonomy group of the
leaf. We will denote by L the Riemannian volume form on each leaf L of
F and by x its lift to a measure on the holonomy covering GxF , x M .
For any vector bundle E on M , we denote by Cc (GF , E) the N
space of

s E
all smooth, compactly supported Sects. of the vector bundle r E

over GF . In other words, for any k Cc (GF , E), its value at a point
GF is a linear map k() : Es() Er() . We will use a correspondence
between tangential kernels k Cc (GF , E) and tangential operators K :
C (M, E) C (M, E) via the formula
Z
k()u(s())dx (), u C (M, E).
Ku(x) =
Gx
F

770

Y.A. Kordyukov

Now we introduce a notion of the principal h-symbol of the operator

h . It is well-known (see, for instance, [24,26]) that the conormal bundle
H to the foliation F has a partial (Bott) connection, which is flat along
leaves of F. So we can lift the foliation F to a foliation FH in the conormal
of the foliation FH through a point H is
bundle H . The leaf L
diffeomorphic to the holonomy covering GxF of the leaf Lx , x = (), of
the foliation F through the point x (here : H M is the bundle map)
and has trivial holonomy.
Denote by
FH : C (H , T M ) C (H , T M )
the lift of the leafwise Laplacian F to a tangentially elliptic operator on
H with respect to FH .
Definition 1. The principal h-symbol of the operator h is a tangentially
elliptic operator on H with respect to the foliation FH , given by the formula
h (h ) = FH + gH ,
where gH is the multiplication operator by the function gH (), H .
The holonomy groupoid GFH of the lifted foliation FH consists of all
triples (, ) GF H such that r() = (), and s() = dh (),
where dh is the codifferential of the holonomy map with the source map
s : GFH H , s(, ) = dh (), and the range map r : GFH
H , r(, ) = . We have the map G : GFH GF , given by G (, ) =
. Denote by trFH the trace on the von Neumann algebra W (GFH , T
M ) of all tangential operators on H with respect to the foliation FH , given
by the holonomy invariant measure dx d on H [6]. For any tangential operator K on (H , FH ), given by a tangential kernel k Cc (GFH , T M ),
k = k(, ), we have
Z
Tr T M k(x, )dxd.
trFH (K) =
H

Theorem 2. For any function f C0 (R), we have the asymptotical formula

tr f (h ) = (2)q hq trFH f (h (h )) + o(hq ), h 0.

(15)

We will prove this theorem in the next section, and now we conclude this
section by a remark.
Remark 3. Let us compare the formula (15) with what we have in the case of
a Schrodinger operator. Let Hh = h2 + V (x), x M, be a Schrodinger
operator on a compact manifold M with an operator-valued potential V

Adiabatic limits on foliations

771

L(H) (H is a Hilbert space) such that V (x) = V (x) (the fibration case).
Then the corresponding asymptotical formula has the following form:
Z
n n
tr f (h ) = (2) h
Tr f (h (Hh )(x, ))dxd + o(hn ),
h 0+,

T M

(16)

where h (Hh )(x, ) is the operator-valued principal h-symbol, h (Hh )(x, )

= ||2 + V (x), (x, ) T M. So we see that the formula (15) has the
same form as (16) with the difference that here f (h (Hh )) is an element
of the foliation C -algebra C (GFH , T M ), which is a noncommutative analoque of the algebra of continuous functions on H /FH , and the
integration over T M and the fibrewise trace in (16) are replaced by the
integration in a sense of the noncommutative integration theory [6].
4. Proof of Theorem 2
This section is devoted to a proof of Theorem 2. Without loss of generality,
we will consider the asymptotical behaviour of tr f (Lh ). The proof of
Theorem 2 relies on the comparison of the operator Lh with some operator
h of the almost product structure as in [20] with a subsequent use of results
L
of [20] (see also [17, 18]) on semiclassical spectral asymptotics for elliptic
operators on foliated manifolds.
h D2,0 (M, F, T M ) be given by the formula
So let an operator L
h = F + h2 H .
L
h satisfies the conditions of [17,18,20], that is, it is of the
The operator L
h = A + h2 B, where A = F is a second order tangentially elliptic
form L
operator with the scalar, positive tangential principal symbol, and B =
H be a second order differential operator on M with the scalar, positive,
holonomy invariant transversal principal symbol. Indeed, it is easy to see
that the transversal principal symbol of operator H , which is the restriction
of its principal symbol from T M to the conormal bundle H , is given by
the formula () = gH ()I, H , and its holonomy invariance is
equivalent to the assumption on the metric gM to be bundle-like.
Remark 4. The only fact which we need from the holonomy invariance
condititon is that the commutator [A, B], which, by general symbolic calculus, belongs to the class D2,1 (M, F, T M ), is an operator of the class
D1,2 (M, F, T M ), that can be checked by a straightforward calculation.
h generates the parabolic semigroup H
h (t) = etL h , t
The operator L
2

0, in the space L (M, T M ). It is clear that these operators are smoothing

772

Y.A. Kordyukov

operators when t > 0. By [20], the operators of the parabolic semigroup

h (t) satisfy the same estimates as in Proposition 3:
H
h (t)ukr,k Cr,s,k t(skr)/2 hsr kuks , u C (M, T M ),
kH

(17)

if r > s, h (0, 1], 0 < t 1, and

h (t)uks,k Csk tk/2 kuks , u C (M, T M ).
kH

(18)

if r = s, h [0, 1], 0 < t 1, where the constants dont depend on t and

h.
h (t).
First, we state the norm estimates for the difference Hh (t) H
Proposition 4. We have the estimate
h (t))ukr,k Cr,s,k t(skr)/2 hsr+1 kuks ,
k(Hh (t) H
u C (M, T M ),
if r > s, h (0, 1], 0 < t 1, and the estimate
h (t))uks,k Csk tk/2 kuks , u C (M, T M ).
k(Hh (t) H
if r = s, h [0, 1], 0 < t 1, where the constants dont depend on t and
h.
Proof. For the proof, we make use of the Duhamel formula
Z t

h Lh )H
h (t ) d.
Hh (t) Hh (t) =
Hh ( )(L
0

h (t) (see Proposition 3

We know norm estimates for operators Hh (t) and H
h Lh :
and (17)-(18)) and the explicit formula for the difference L
h = h4 1,2 + hK1 + h2 K2 + h3 K3 .
Lh L
from where Proposition 4 is proved in a usual way.
h (t)
Next, we pass from the Sobolev estimates for the operator Hh (t) H
to pointwise and trace estimates.
Proposition 5. Under current hypotheses, we have the estimate
h (t))| Ch1q .
|tr(Hh (t) H
Proof. For the proof, we make use the following proposition (see [20] for a
scalar case):

Adiabatic limits on foliations

773

Proposition 6. Let (M, F) be a compact foliated manifold, E be an Hermitian vector bundle on M . For any s > p/2 and k > q/2, there is a
continuous embedding
H s,k (M, F, E) C(M, E).
Moreover, for any s > p/2 and k > q/2, there is a constant Cs,k > 0 such
that, for each 1,
sup |u(x)| Cs,l q/2 (s kuks,k + kuk0,k+s ), u H s,k (M, F, E).

xM

h (t, x, y)) be the integral kernels of operators Hh (t)

Let Hh (t, x, y) (H

(Hh (t)) respectively. Then, by Propositions 4 and 6 (with = h1 ), we

obtain:
h (t, x, x)| Ch1q ,
sup |Hh (t, x, x) H
xM

that immediately completes the proof.

Denote by hF (t, ) C (GF , T M ) the tangential kernel of the
smoothing tangential operator exp(tF ).
Proposition 7. For any t > 0, we have the asymptotical formula (as h 0)
!
Z
Z
etgH () d TrT M hF (t, x)dx
tr etLh = (2)q hq
M

Hx

+O(h1q ).

(19)

Proof. By Propositions 3 and 6, we have the estimate

tr etLh Chq , h 0.
Moreover, by Proposition 5, asymptotics of traces of the operators Hh (t)
h (t) when h tends to zero have the same leading terms (of order hq ),
and H
and we can apply the asymptotical formula of [17,18,20] to complete the
proof.
Remark 5. Since

Z
Hx

etgH () d = q/2 tq/2 ,

the formula (19) can be rewritten in a simpler form:

Z
tLh
q/2 q
tr e
= (4t)
h
TrT M hF (t, x)dx + O(h1q ), h 0.
M

(20)
From (20), we can also obtain an asymptotical formula for the spectrum
distribution function, but it is more convenient for us to use the formula in
the form (19).

774

Y.A. Kordyukov

Remark 6. For any x M , the restriction hF (t, ) C (GxF , T M ) of

hF on GxF is the kernel of the operator exp(tx ), where x the restriction
of F on GxF (see also Sect. 5). This fact cannot be extended to more general
functions f (F ) (see [19]), that is closely related with so-called spectrum
coincidence theorems and with the nonstandard asymptotical formula (2).
Proof of Theorem 2. The tangential kernel hFH (t) C (GFH , T M )
of the operator exp(tFH ) is related with the tangential kernel hF (t)
C (GF , T M ) of the operator exp(tF ) by the formula
hFH (t, , ) = hF (t, ).
The crucial point is that, since F is a Riemannian foliation, the operators
FH and gH commutes as operators on H . In particular, we have
eth (h ) = etgH () etFH , t > 0.
So the formula (19) can be rewritten in terms of the notation of this section
as follows:
tr etLh = hq trFH eth (h ) + O(h1q ), h 0.
from where, using standard approximation arguments, the theorem follows
immediately.
h resembles
Remark 7. The passage from the operator Lh to the operator L
the passage from the Riemannian connection on M to the almost product
connection as in [1, 26].
5. Formulation in terms of leafwise spectral characteristics
Here we rewrite the asymptotical formula (15) in terms of spectral characteristics of the operator F . In particular, it allows us to complete the proof
of Theorem 1 on the asymptotic behaviour of the eigenvalue distribution
function.
Recall that F denotes the tangential Laplacian in the space
C (M, T M ) (see (7)). Let us restrict the operator F to the leaves of
the foliation F and lift the restrictions to holonomy coverings GxF via the
map s. We obtain the family
x : Cc (GxF , s T M ) Cc (GxF , s T M )
of Laplacians on holonomy coverings of leaves. Since the foliation F is
Riemannian, it can be checked that the operator x is formally self-adjoint
in L2 (GxF , s T M ), that, in turn, implies its essential self-adjointness in
this Hilbert space (with initial domain Cc (GxF , s T M )) for any x M .

Adiabatic limits on foliations

775

For each R, the kernel e(, ), GF of the spectral projections of the

operators x , corresponding to the semiaxis (, ], defines an element
e(, ) is a
of the von Neumann algebra W (GF , T M ). The
N section

leafwise smooth section of the bundle (s T M )

r T M over GF .
We introduce the spectrum distribution function NF () of the operator
F by the formula
Z
NF () =
TrT M e(x, )dx, R.
(21)
M

By [19], for any R, the function TrT M e(x, ) is a bounded

measurable function on M , therefore, the spectrum distribution function
NF () is well-defined and takes finite values.
Theorem 3. For any function f C0 (R), we have the following asymptotic formula (as h 0):
q/2 Z Z
q (4)
tr f (Lh ) = h
q/21 f ( +) d dNF ( )+o(hq ).
(q/2)
Proof. Let EgH ( ) and E () denote the spectral projections of the operators gH and FH in L2 (H , T M ) respectively. Since these operators
commute, we have
Z + Z +
f (h (h )) = f (F + gH ) =
f ( + ) dEgH ( ) dE ()

with respect to FH with the tangential kernel

is a tangential operator on
Z + Z +
f ( + ) dEgH ( )() dE (, ).
kf (h (h )) (, ) =

So we obtain

trFH f (h (h )) =

Z
=

Z
TrT M
Hx
Z + Z +

kf (h (h )) (x, )dxd
Z
f ( + ) (

Hx

dEgH ( )() d)

d (TrT M E (x, )) d dx,

from where, taking into account that EgH ( )() = {gH () } I T M

and
Z
EgH ( )() d = volume{ Hx : gH () } = q q/2 ,
Hx

q/2

where q = ((q/2)+1)
is the volume of the unit ball in Rq , we immediately
obtain the desired formula.

776

Y.A. Kordyukov

In a particular case when f is the characteristic function of the semiaxis (, ), Theorem 3 implies the following theorem on the asymptotic
behaviour of the spectrum distribution function Nh (), which is exactly
Theorem 1 formulated in terms of the operator Lh .
Theorem 4. Under current hypothesis, we have
Z
(4)q/2
Nh () = hq
( )q/2 dNF ( ) + o(hq ), h 0
((q/2) + 1)
for any R.
6. Eigenvalue limits
Here we discuss the asymptotical behaviour of individual eigenvalues of the
operator h when h tends to zero. As usual, we will, equivalently, consider
the operator Lh instead of h . Moreover, we will consider eigenvalues of
this operator on differential k-forms with a fixed k. Therefore, we will write
Lkh for the restriction of the operator Lh on C (M, k T M ) k = 1, . . . , n,
omitting k where it is not essential.
For any h > 0, Lh is an analytic family of type (B) of self-adjoint operators in sense of [15]. Therefore, for h > 0, the eigenvalues of Lh depends
analytically on h. Thus there are (countably many) analytic functions i (h)
such that
spec Lh = {i (h) : i = 1, 2, . . .}, h > 0.
Proposition 8. Under current hypotheses, for any i, there exists a limit
lim i (h) = lim,i .

h0+

(22)

Moreover, if vh is a normalized eigenform associated with the eigenvalue

i (h), Lh vh = i (h)vh , kvh k = 1, then we have the estimates
kvh k0,1 < C1 , hkvh k1,0 < C2 ,

(23)

with the constants C1 and C2 independent of h (0, 1].

Proof. By [15], the functions i (h) satisfy the following equality
0i (h) = ((dLh /dh)vh , vh )
= ((2hH + 4h3 1,2 + K1 + 2hK2 + 3h2 K3 )vh , vh ),
from where, using the positivity of operators H and 1,2 in L2 (M, T
M ), and the estimates (9) and (13) (with h = 1), we obtain
0i (h) C1 kvh k20,1 C2 h2 kvh k21,0 C3 .

(24)

Adiabatic limits on foliations

777

The estimate (14) implies

C1 kvh k20,1 + C2 h2 kvh k21,0 C3 i (h) + C4 , h (0, 1].

(25)

By (24) and (25), we conclude that

0i (h) C5 i (h) C6 .
This estimate can be rewritten in the following way:
d
C6 C5 h
((i (h) +
)e ) 0,
dh
C5
C5 h is not decreasing in h for h
6
that means that the function (i (h) + C
C5 )e
small enough. By the positivity of the operator Lh in L2 (M, T M ), each
C5 h semibounded
6
eigenvalue i (h) is positive, so the function (i (h)+ C
C5 )e
from below near zero. Therefore, this function has a limit when h tends to
zero, that, clearly, implies the existence of the limit for the function i .
The second assertion of this proposition is an immediate consequence
of the first one and the estimate (25).

kh

Proposition 8 allows us to introduce the limiting spectrum of the operator

as the set of all limiting values klim,i , given by (22):
lim (kh ) = {klim,i : i = 0, 1, . . .}.

By analogy with semiclassical asymptotics for a Schrodinger operator,

we may assume that the structure of the limiting spectrum lim (kh ) is
defined in a big extent by a limiting value of the bottoms of spectra of
operators kh . So let
k0 (h) =
and

(kh u, u)
,
kuk2
uC (M,k T M )
min

klim,0 = lim k0 (h).

h0

There are two other quantities: the bottom kF,0 of the spectrum of the operator kF in L2 (M, k T M ):
kF,0 =

(kF u, u)
,
kuk2
uC (M,k T M )
min

and the bottom kF ,0 of the leafwise spectrum of the operator kF :

kF ,0 = inf{kL,0 : L V /F},

778

Y.A. Kordyukov

where
kL,0 =

(kL u, u)
,
kuk2
uCc (L,k T M )
min

the operator kL is the restriction of the operator kF on the leaf L.

Proposition 9. Under current hypotheses, we have the following relations:
kF,0 klim,0 kF ,0 , k = 1, . . . , n.

(26)

Proof. Let vh be the normalized eigenform associated with the bottom

eigenvalue k0 (h): Lkh vh = k0 (h)vh , kvh k = 1. By the definition of kF,0 ,
we have the estimate
(kF vh , vh ) kF,0 .
By (12), we obtain
k0 (h) (1 h2 )kF,0 + C1 h2 kvh k21,0 + h(K1 vh , vh ) C2 h2 ,

(27)

where C1 and C2 are positive constants. By (23), we have

lim h(K1 vh , vh ) = 0,

h0

that, by (27), immediately completes the proof of the first inequality in (26).
By Theorem 1, Nhk () > 0 for any > kF ,0 and h small enough, from
where the second inequality in (26) follows immediately.
We conclude this section with some remarks and examples, concerning
the quantities kF,0 , klim,0 and kF ,0 .
Remark 8. When the foliation F is a fibration or, more general, is amenable
in a sense of [19], the relations (26) turns out to be identities [19].
Remark 9. We dont know if the equality kF,0 = klim,0 is always true. It
is, clearly, true for k = 0: 0F,0 = 0lim,0 = 0. More general, if the Betti
number bk (M ) is not zero, then k0 (h) = 0 for all h, that also implies
kF,0 = klim,0 = 0.
Remark 10. Here we give an example of the foliation such that the bottom
0F,0 = 0 of the operator 0F in L2 (M ) is a point of discrete spectrum.
Let be a discrete, finitely generated group such that
(a) has property (T ) of Kazhdan;
(b) is embedded in a compact Lie group G as a dense subgroup.
For definitions and examples of such groups, see, for instance, [14,22].
be the
Let us take a compact manifold X such that 1 (X) = . Let X
universal covering of X equipped with a left action of by deck transformations. We will assume that acts on G by left translations. Let us

Adiabatic limits on foliations

779

G
consider the suspension foliation F on a compact manifold M = X
(see, for instance, [5]). A choice of a left invariant metric on G provides a
bundle-like metric on M , so F is a Riemannian foliation. We may assume
that leafwise metric is chosen in such a way that any leaf of the foliation F

is isometric to X.
There is defined a natural action of on M and the operator 0F is
invariant under this action. Let E(0, ), > 0, denote the spectral projection
of the operator 0F in L2 (M ), corresponding to the interval (0, ), and
E(0, )L2 (M ) be the corresponding -invariant spectral subspace.
Claim. In this example, 0F,0 = 0 is a nondegenerate point of discrete spectrum of 0F , that is, an isolated eigenvalue of multitplicity 1.
From the contrary, let us assume that zero lies in the essential spectrum
of the operator 0F in L2 (M ). Then, for any > 0 and > 0, there is a
function u C (M ) such that u belongs to the space E(0, )L2 (M ),
ku k = 1 and
(F u , u ) = kF u k ,
(28)
where F denotes the leafwise gradient. From (28), we can easily derive that
the representation of the group in E(0, )L2 (M ) has an almost invariant
vector, that, by the property (T ), implies the existence of an invariant vector
v0 E(0, )L2 (M ).
Since is dense in G, -invariance of v0 implies its G-invariance, that,
in turn, implies that v0 is a lift of some non-zero element v C (X) via
the natural projection M X. It can be easily checked that v belongs to the
corresponding spectral space E(0, )L2 (X) of the Laplace operator X in
L2 (X). From other hand, the operator X has a discrete spectrum, so zero
is an isolated point in the spectrum of X , and the space E(0, )L2 (X) is
trivial if > 0 is small enough. So we get a contradiction, which implies
that zero lies in the discrete spectrum of the operator 0F in L2 (M ).
Remark 11. If F is given by a fibration, zero is also an isolated point in the
spectrum of the operator 0F in L2 (M ), but, in that case, it is an eigenvalue
of infinite multitplicity, and, therefore, lies in the essential spectrum of 0F
in L2 (M ).
Remark 12. Unlike the scalar case, it is not always the case that all of the
semiaxis [lim,0 , +) is contained in lim (h ). Indeed, let, as in the example of Remark 10, 0F,0 = 0 is a nondegenerate point of discrete spectrum of
0F . Then, by means of the perturbation theory of the discrete spectrum (see,
for instance, [15]), we can state that, for h > 0 small enough, 0 (h) = 0
is the only eigenvalue of 0h near zero. SoTwe conclude that lim,0 = 0 but
there exists a 1 > 0 such that lim (h ) [0, 1 ] = {0}.

780

Y.A. Kordyukov

7. Concluding remarks
In this section, we discuss some aspects of the main asymptotical formula (1),
and, especially, of the nonstandard formula (2). We will make use of the
notation of previous sections.
The whole picture which we observe in the foliation case is the following.
Generally, for any k = 0, 1, . . . , n, we have only that kF,0 klim,0 kF ,0 ,
and these relations turn into identities, if the foliation F is a fibration or,
more general, is amenable (see Remark 8).
By (1), the function Nhk () behaves in a usual way when is greater
than the bottom of the leafwise spectrum of kF :
Nhk () Chq , kF ,0 ,
but, if kF,0 < kF ,0 , there might be limiting values for eigenvalues ki (h) of
the operator kh , lying in the interval (kF,0 , kF ,0 ). So the function Nhk ()
is nontrivial on the interval (klim,0 , kF ,0 ), but, since the right-hand side of
(1) depends only on leafwise spectral data of the operator kF , we have
lim hq Nhk () = 0, < kF ,0 .

h0+

(29)

It means that the set of eigenvalues of kh in the interval (klim,0 , kF ,0 ) is

thin in the whole set of eigenvalues of h . By analogy with [27], (29)
in the case k = 0 may be called as a weak foliated version of Riemann
hypothesis.
This is quite different from what we have in the case of a Schrodinger
operator or in the fibration case. For instance, if Hh is a Schrodinger operator
on a compact manifold M (we may consider M , being equipped with a trivial
foliation F which leaves are points): Hh = h2 + V (x), x M , we
have F,0 = lim,0 = F ,0 = inf V , where V (x) = min(V (x), 0), x
M , and the following asymptotical formula for the spectrum distribution
function Nh () in the semiclassical limit:
Z
Nh () = (2)n hn
dxd + o(hn ), h 0 + .
{(x,): 2 +V (x)}

So we have only two possibilities: Nh () Chn , if > inf V (n =

dim M ), and Nh () = 0, if inf V .
We can point out facts in spectral theory of coverings, which are very
similar to ones in spectral theory of foliations mentioned above. For simplicity, consider only the Laplace-Beltrami operator on functions.
M be a normal covering with a covering group . Recall
Let M
that a tower of coverings is a set {Mi }
i=1 of finite-fold subcoverings of this
covering with the corresponding covering groups i such that:

Adiabatic limits on foliations

781

(1) for each i, i is a normal subgroup of finite index in ;

(2) for
T each i, i+1 is contained in i ;
(3) i i = {e}.
Let (Mi ) be the set of eigenvalues of the Laplacian Mi on Mi . For
any i, we have an embedding (Mi ) (Mi+1 ), and when i tends
to infinity the spectrum
S (Mi ) of the finite covering Mi approaches to
the limit lim () = i (Mi ). Then, the bottom lim,0 of the limiting
spectrum lim () and the bottom M,0 of the spectrum (M ) of the
manifold M are, clearly, equal to 0. In general, the bottom M ,0 of the
is is not less than M,0 = 0,
spectrum (M ) of the covering manifold M
and, by [4], the identity M ,0 = M,0 holds if and only if the group is
amenable.
Moreover, by [10], for any function f Cc (R), we have
lim (vol Mi )1 tr f (Mi ) = tr f (M ),

where tr is the von Neumann trace on the algebra of -invariant operators

[2]. In particular, if Ni () is the eigenvalue distribution function of
on M
the Laplace-Beltrami operator Mi , then
lim (vol Mi )1 Ni () = N (), R,

lim (vol Mi )1 Ni () = 0, < M ,0 ,

where N () is the spectrum distribution function of the operator M

constructed by means of the -trace tr , M ,0 = inf (M ).
A little bit more general possibility to arrange a finite-dimensional approximation of the spectrum of a covering, making use of sequences of
finite-dimensional representations of the covering group , converging to
the left regular representations of , is considered in [27]. Analogues of (1)
and (29) can be also found in [27].
Actually, both of these two problems the spectral problem for the
Laplacian on a covering and the spectral problem for the leafwise Laplacian
on a foliated manifold can be considered as type II spectral problems in
a sense of theory of operator algebras, and asymptotical spectral problems
mentioned above can be treated as finite-dimensional (of type I) approximations to these spectral problems. This gives some explanation to analogies,
which we observed above. In above considerations, we also meet notions
connected with such approximations: amenability and Kazhdans property
(T).
Let us introduce quantitative spectral characteristics of the tangential
Laplacian kF related with adiabatic limits. For any , let rk () be given as
rk () = lim sup ln Nhk ()/ ln h.
h0

782

Y.A. Kordyukov

Otherwise speaking, rk () equals the least bound of all r such that Nhk ()
Chr , h 0. If < klim,0 , we put rk () = .
One can easily state the following properties of rk ():
1.
2.
3.
4.

0 rk () q for any klim,0 ;

rk () is not decreasing in ;
rk () = q if > kF ,0 .
if the foliation F is amenable, then:
rk () = q, > kF ,0 , rk () = , kF ,0 .

5. rk () = 0 iff the interval [0, ] lies in the discrete spectrum of the

operator kF in L2 (M, k T M ) (the property (T ) case; see Remark 10).
We might expect that some invariants of the function rk () introduced above
near = 0 are independent of the choice of metric on M (otherwise speaking, are coarse invariants), and, moreover, are topological or homotopic
invariants of foliated manifolds.
Acknowledgement. The work was done during a stay at the Max Planck Institut fur Mathematik at Bonn. I wish to express my gratitude to it for hospitality and support.

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