Modular invariance, characteristic numbers and $η$ invariants

Abstract

We generalize the "miraculous cancellation" formulas of Alvarez-Gaumé, Witten and Kefeng Liu to a twisted version where an extra complex line bundle is involved. We also apply our result to discuss intrinsic relations between the higher dimensional Rokhlin type congruence formulas of Ochanine [O1], Finashin [F] and Zhang [Z1, 2]. In particular, an analytic proof of the Finashin congruence formula is given.

22 pages