The Baum–Connes conjecture localised at the unit element of a discrete group

We construct a Baum–Connes assembly map localised at the unit element of a discrete group $\Gamma$. This morphism, called $\mu _\tau$, is defined in $KK$-theory with coefficients in $\mathbb {R}$ by means of the action of the idempotent $[\tau ]\in KK_{\mathbin {{\mathbb {R}}}}^\Gamma (\mathbb {C},\mathbb {C})$ canonically associated to the group trace of $\Gamma$. We show that the corresponding $\tau$-Baum–Connes conjecture is weaker than the classical version, but still implies the strong Novikov conjecture. The right-hand side of $\mu _\tau$ is functorial with respect to the group $\Gamma$.

Delocalized Eta Invariants, Algebraicity, and K-Theory of Group C*-Algebras

In this paper, we establish a precise connection between higher rho invariants and delocalized eta invariants. Given an element in a discrete group, if its conjugacy class has polynomial growth, then there is a natural trace map on the $K_0$-group of its group $C^\ast$-algebra. For each such trace map, we construct a determinant map on secondary higher invariants. We show that, under the evaluation of this determinant map, the image of a higher rho invariant is precisely the corresponding delocalized eta invariant of Lott. As a consequence, we show that if the Baum–Connes conjecture holds for a group, then Lott’s delocalized eta invariants take values in algebraic numbers. We also generalize Lott’s delocalized eta invariant to the case where the corresponding conjugacy class does not have polynomial growth, provided that the strong Novikov conjecture holds for the group.