This monograph presents a comprehensive treatment of important new ideas on Dirac operators and Dirac cohomology. Dirac operators are widely used in physics, differential geometry, and group-theoretic settings (particularly, the geometric construction of discrete series representations). The related concept of Dirac cohomology, which is defined using Dirac operators, is a far-reaching generalization that connects index theory in differential geometry to representation theory. Using Dirac operators as a unifying theme, the authors demonstrate how some of the most important results in representation theory fit together when viewed from this perspective.
Key topics covered include:
* Proof of Vogan's conjecture on Dirac cohomology
* Simple proofs of many classical theorems, such as the Bott–Borel–Weil theorem and the Atiyah–Schmid theorem
* Dirac cohomology, defined by Kostant's cubic Dirac operator, along with other closely related kinds of cohomology, such as n-cohomology and (g,K)-cohomology
* Cohomological parabolic induction and $A_q(\lambda)$ modules
* Discrete series theory, characters, existence and exhaustion
* Sharpening of the Langlands formula on multiplicity of automorphic forms, with applications
* Dirac cohomology for Lie superalgebras
An excellent contribution to the mathematical literature of representation theory, this self-contained exposition offers a systematic examination and panoramic view of the subject. The material will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in representation theory, differential geometry, and physics.
