Cohomology and Morse theory for strongly indefinite functionals

Supported in part by the Swedish Natural Science Research Council     

On topological Morse theory

Starting from the concept of Morse critical point, introduced in [A. Ioffe and E. Schwartzman, J. Math. Pures Appl. (9), 75 (1996), 125?C153], we propose a purely topological approach to Morse theory.     

Morse lemma for functionals of variational calculus

Institute for Control Problems, Academy of the Sciences of the USSR. Translated from Funktsional'nyi Analiz i Ego Prilozheniya, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 1–11, July–September, 1991.     

Morse theory for some lower-C 2 functions in finite dimension

Using inf-regularization methods, we prove that Morse inequalities hold for some lower-C ² functions. For this purpose, we first recall some properties of the class of lower-C ² functions and of their Moreau-Yosida approximations. Then, we establish, under some qualification conditions on the critical points, that it is possible to define a Morse index for a lower-C ² functionf. This index is preserved by the Moreau-Yosida approximation process. We prove in particular that the Moreau-Yosida approximations are twice continuolusly differentiable around such a critical point which is shown to be a strict local minimum of the restriction off and of its approximations to some affine space. In a last step, Morse inequalities are written for Moreau-Yosida approximations and with the aid of deformation retractions we prove that these inequalities also hold for some lower-C ² functions.     

Morse homology for the heat flow – Linear theory

Consider the linear parabolic partial differential equation ${\mathcal {D}}_u\xi =0$ which arises by linearizing the heat flow on the loop space of a Riemannian manifold M. The solutions are vector fields along infinite cylinders u in M. For these solutions we establish regularity and a priori estimates. We show that for nondegenerate asymptotic boundary conditions the solutions decay exponentially in L² in forward and backward time. In this case ${\mathcal {D}}_u$ viewed as linear operator from the parabolic Sobolev space ${\mathcal {W}}^{1,p}$ to L^p is Fredholm whenever p > 1. We close with an L^p estimate for products of first order terms which is a crucial ingredient in the sequel 13 to prove regularity and the implicit function theorem. The results of the present text are the base to construct in 13 an algebraic chain complex whose homology represents the homology of the loop space.     

Morse theory for minimal surfaces in manifolds

A Morse theory of a given function gives information of the numbers of critical points of some topological type. A minimal surface, bounded by a given curve in a manifold, is characterized as a harmonic extension of a critical point of the functional \({\mathcal E}\) which corresponds to the Dirichlet integral. We want to obtain Morse theories for minimal surfaces in Riemannian manifolds. We first investigate the higher differentiabilities of \({\mathcal E}\). We then develop a Morse inequality for minimal surfaces of annulus type in a Riemannian manifold. Furthermore, we also construct body handle theories for minimal surfaces of annulus type as well as of disc type. Here we give a setting where the functional \({\mathcal E}\) is non-degenerated.     

Morse theory for indefinite nonlinear elliptic problems

Using the heat flow as a deformation, a Morse theory for the solutions of the nonlinear elliptic equation:

−Δu−λu=a₊(x)|u|^q−1u−a₋(x)|u|^p−1u+h(x,u)$-\mathrm{\Delta }u-\lambda u=a_{+}(x){|u|}^{q-1}u-a_{-}(x){|u|}^{p-1}u+h(x,u)$

Morse theory for analytic functions on surfaces

In this paper we deal with analytic functions defined on a compact two dimensional Riemannian surface S whose critical points are semi degenerated (critical points having a non identically vanishing Hessian). To any element p of the set of semi degenerated critical points Q we assign an unique index which can take the values −1, 0 or 1, and prove that Q is made up of finitely many (critical) points with non zero index and embedded circles. Further, we generalize the famous Morse result by showing that the sum of the indexes of the critical points of f equals χ (S), the Euler characteristic of S. As an intermediate result we locally describe the level set of f near a point p ∈Q. We show that the level set f ⁻¹(f (p)) is either a) the set {p}, or b) the graph of a smooth curve passing through p, or c) the graphs of two smooth curves tangent at p or d) the graphs of two smooth curves building at p a cusp shape.     

Morse theory for the Yang-Mills functional via equivariant homotopy theory

In this paper we show the existence of non-minimal critical points of the Yang-Mills functional over a certain family of 4-manifolds with generic -invariant metrics using Morse and homotopy theoretic methods. These manifolds are acted on fixed point freely by the Lie group with quotient a compact Riemann surface of even genus. We use a version of invariant Morse theory for the Yang-Mills functional used by Parker in A Morse theory for equivariant Yang-Mills, Duke Math. J. 66-2 (1992), 337-356 and Råde in Compactness theorems for invariant connections, submitted for publication.     

On uncomplemented subspaces ofL p , 1 <p <2

It is shown tat, for 1 <p < 2, there is an uncomplemented subspace ofL _p [0,1] that is isomorphic to Hilbert space.     

Some results for impulsive problems via Morse theory

We use Morse theory to study impulsive problems. First we consider asymptotically piecewise linear problems with superlinear impulses, and prove a new existence result for this class of problems using the saddle point theorem. Next we compute the critical groups at zero when the impulses are asymptotically linear near zero, in particular, we identify an important resonance set for this problem. As an application, we finally obtain a nontrivial solution for asymptotically piecewise linear problems with impulses that are asymptotically linear at zero and superlinear at infinity. Our results here are based on the simple observation that the underlying Sobolev space naturally splits into a certain finite dimensional subspace where all the impulses take place and its orthogonal complement that is free of impulsive effects.