On the homotopy invariance of L2 torsion for covering spaces

Abstract

<p>We prove the homotopy invariance of <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper L squared"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">L^2</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> torsion for covering spaces, whenever the covering transformation group is either residually finite or amenable. In the case when the covering transformation group is residually finite and when the <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper L squared"> <mml:semantics> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">L^2</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> cohomology of the covering space vanishes, the homotopy invariance was established by Lück. We also give some applications of our results.</p>