De Rham Cohomology and Hodge Decomposition For Quantum Groups

Let be one of the N²-dimensionalbicovariant first order differential calculi for the quantumgroups GL_q(N), SL_q(N), SO_q(N), or Sp_q(N), where q is a transcendentalcomplex number and z is a regular parameter. It is shown thatthe de Rham cohomology of Woronowicz' external algebra coincides with the de Rham cohomologiesof its left-coinvariant, its right-coinvariant and its (two-sided)coinvariant subcomplexes. In the cases GL_q(N) and SL_q(N) thecohomology ring is isomorphic to the coinvariant external algebra and to the vector space of harmonic forms. We prove a Hodge decomposition theorem in thesecases. The main technical tool is the spectral decompositionof the quantum Laplace-Beltrami operator. 2000 MathematicalSubject Classification: 46L87, 58A12, 81R50.