Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2013
We define the notion of a trace kernel on a manifold $M$. Roughly speaking, it is a sheaf on $M\times M$ for which the formalism of Hochschild homology applies. We associate a microlocal Euler class with such a kernel, a cohomology class with values in the relative dualizing complex of the cotangent bundle ${T}^{\ast } M$ over $M$, and we prove that this class is functorial with respect to the composition of kernels.
This generalizes, unifies and simplifies various results from (relative) index theorems for constructible sheaves, $\mathscr{D}$-modules and elliptic pairs.