On a compact closed manifold with edges live pseudodifferential operators which are block matrices of operators with additional edge conditions like boundary conditions in boundary value problems. They include Green, trace and potential operators along the edges, act in a kind of Sobolev spaces and form an algebra with a wealthy symbolic structure. We consider complexes of Fréchet spaces whose differentials are given by operators in this algebra. Since the algebra in question is a microlocalization of the Lie algebra of typical vector fields on a manifold with edges, such complexes are of great geometric interest. In particular, the de Rham and Dolbeault complexes on manifolds with edges fit into this framework. To each complex there correspond two sequences of symbols, one of the two controls the interior ellipticity while the other sequence controls the ellipticity at the edges. The elliptic complexes prove to be Fredholm, i.e., have a finite-dimensional cohomology. Using specific tools in the algebra of pseudodifferential operators we develop a Hodge theory for elliptic complexes and outline a few applications thereof.
We study the Neumann problem for the de Rham complex in a bounded domain of Rn with singularities on the boundary. The singularities may be general enough, varying from Lipschitz domains to domains with cuspidal edges on the boundary. Following Lopatinskii we reduce the Neumann problem to a singular integral equation of the boundary. The Fredholm solvability of this equation is then equivalent to the Fredholm property of the Neumann problem in suitable function spaces. The boundary integral equation is explicitly written and may be treated in diverse methods. This way we obtain, in particular, asymptotic expansions of harmonic forms near singularities of the boundary.
When trying to extend the Hodge theory for elliptic complexes on compact closed manifolds to the case of compact manifolds with boundary one is led to a boundary value problem for
the Laplacian of the complex which is usually referred to as Neumann problem. We study the Neumann problem for a larger class of sequences of differential operators on
a compact manifold with boundary. These are sequences of small curvature, i.e., bearing the property that the composition of any two neighbouring operators has order less than two.
When trying to extend the Hodge theory for elliptic complexes on compact closed manifolds to the case of compact manifolds with boundary one is led to a boundary value problem for the Laplacian of the complex which is usually referred to as Neumann problem. We study the Neumann problem for a larger class of sequences of differential operators on a compact manifold with boundary. These are sequences of small curvature, i.e., bearing the property that the composition of any two neighbouring operators has order less than two.
We discuss canonical representations of the de Rham cohomology on a compact manifold with boundary. They are obtained by minimising the energy integral in a Hilbert space of differential forms that belong along with the exterior derivative to the domain of the adjoint operator. The corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations reduce to an elliptic boundary value problem on the manifold, which is usually referred to as the Neumann problem after Spencer.
We consider a perturbation of the de Rham complex on a compact manifold with boundary. This perturbation goes beyond the framework of complexes, and so cohomology does not apply to it. On the other hand, its curvature is "small", hence there is a natural way to introduce an Euler characteristic and develop a Lefschetz theory for the perturbation. This work is intended as an attempt to develop a cohomology theory for arbitrary sequences of linear mappings.