Hermitian structures on the derived category of coherent sheaves

The main objective of the present paper is to set up the theoretical basis and the language needed to deal with the problem of direct images of Hermitian vector bundles for projective non-necessarily smooth morphisms. To this end, we first define Hermitian structures on the objects of the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a smooth complex variety. Secondly we extend the theory of Bott-Chern classes to these Hermitian structures. Finally we introduce the category . Sm ^-*/C whose morphisms are projective morphisms with a Hermitian structure on the relative tangent complex.