The Euler characteristic of a transitive Lie algebroid

Abstract

We apply the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and tensor products of elliptic complexes to the cohomology of transitive Lie algebroids. We prove that the Euler characteristic of a representation of a transitive Lie algebroid $A$ over a compact manifold $M$ vanishes unless $A=TM$, and prove a general Künneth formula. As applications, we give a short proof of a vanishing result for the Euler characteristic of a principal bundle calculated using invariant differential forms, and show that the cohomology of certain Lie algebroids are exterior algebras. The latter result can be seen as a generalization of Hopf's theorem regarding the cohomology of compact Lie groups.