A Fredholm Operator Approach To Morita Equivalence

Given C*-algebras A and B and an imprimitivity A-B-bimodule X, we construct an explicit isomorphism X_* : K_i(A) --> K_i(B) where K_i denote the complex K-theory functors for i=0, 1. Our techniques do not require separability nor existence of countable approximate identities. We thus extend, to general C*-algebras, the result of Brown, Green and Rieffel according to which strongly Morita equivalent C*-algebras have isomorphic K-groups. The method employed includes a study of Fredholm operators on Hilbert modules.