Eta invariant and Chern-Simons current

We show that the R/Z part of the analytically defined eta invariant of Atiyah-Patodi-Singer for a Dirac operator on an odd dimensional closed spin manifold can be expressed purely geometrically through a stable Chern-Simons current on a higher dimensional sphere. As a preliminary application, we discuss the relation with the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer R/Z index theorem for unitary flat vector bundles, and prove an R refinement in the case where the Dirac operator is replaced by the Signature operator. We also extend the above discussion to the case of eta invariants associated to Hermitian vector bundles with non-unitary connection, which are constructed by using a trick due to Lott.