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.