Heat kernels of perturbed operators and index theory on G-proper manifolds

Let G be a connected, linear real reductive group and let X be a G-proper manifold without boundary. We give a detailed account of both the large and small time behaviour of the heat-kernel of perturbed Dirac operators, as a map from the positive real line to the Lafforgue algebra. As a first application, we prove that certain delocalized eta invariants associated to perturbed Dirac operators are well defined. We then prove index formulas relating these delocalized eta invariants to Atiyah-Patodi-Singer delocalized indices on G-proper manifolds with boundary. We apply these results to the definition of rho-numbers associated to G-homotopy equivalences between closed G-proper manifolds and to the study of their bordism properties.