On modular semifinite index theory

Abstract: We propose a definition of a modular spectral triple which covers existing examples arising from KMS-states, Podles sphere and quantum SU(2). The definition also incorporates the notion of twisted commutators appearing in recent work of Connes and Moscovici. We show how a finitely summable modular spectral triple admits a twisted index pairing with unitaries satisfying a modular condition. The twist means that the dimensions of kernels and cokernels are measured with respect to two different but intimately related traces. The twisted index pairing can be expressed by pairing Chern characters in reduced versions of twisted cyclic theories. We end the paper by giving a local formula for the reduced Chern character in the case of quantum SU(2). It appears as a twisted coboundary of the Haar-state. In particular we present an explicit computation of the twisted index pairing arising from the sequence of corepresentation unitaries. As an important tool we construct a family of derived integration spaces associated with a weight and a trace on a semifinite von Neumann algebra.