A relative morse index for the symplectic action

The notion of a Morse index of a function on a finite-dimensional manifold cannot be generalized directly to the symplectic action function a on the loop space of a manifold. In this paper, we define for any pair of critical points of a a relative Morse index, which corresponds to the difference of the two Morse indices in finite dimensions. It is based on the spectral flow of the Hessian of a and can be identified with a topological invariant recently defined by Viterbo, and with the dimension of the space of trajectories between the two critical points.     

On limit behavior of skew‐product transformation semigroups

This paper introduces both the notions of topological transitivity and topological mixing in the general setting of semigroup actions on topological spaces. A discussion on limit behavior of skew‐product transformation semigroups is presented. The main purpose is to characterize the lifts and the projections of recurrent points, attractors and Morse decompositions for transformation semigroups associated to skew‐product transformation semigroups. The results play a role to the existence of the finest Morse decomposition for control systems and their control flows.     

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.     

The regular points of simple functions

We extend the work of Ioffe and Lewis [A. Ioffe and A. Lewis, Critical points of simple functions, Optimization, 57 (2008), pp. 3–16] and relate it to the previous work of Morse [M. Morse, Topologically non-degenerate functions in a compact n-manifold, J. Anal. Math. 7 (1959), p. 243]. We show that the concept of regularity for piecewise linear functions can be explained in geometric topological terms and this explanation leads to a unified view of several concepts of regularity for such functions.     

Morse and semistable stratifications of K?hler spacesby \Bbb C*{\Bbb C}^{\ast}-actions

We prove that the Morse decomposition in the sense of Kirwan and semistable decomposition in the sense of GIT of a \Bbb C^*{\Bbb C}^{\ast} -K?hler manifold coincide if the moment map is proper and if the fixed points set X^{\Bbb C*}X^{{\Bbb C}^{\ast}} has a finite number of connected components. For general K?hler space with holomorphic action of a complex reductive group G, if every component of the moment map is proper, the two decompositions also coincide if each semistable piece is Zariski open in its topological closure and the moment map square is minimal degenerate Morse function in the sense of Kirwan.     

Ascending and descending regions of a discrete Morse function

We present an algorithm which produces a decomposition of a regular cellular complex with a discrete Morse function analogous to the Morse–Smale decomposition of a smooth manifold with respect to a smooth Morse function. The advantage of our algorithm compared to similar existing results is that it works, at least theoretically, in any dimension. Practically, there are dimensional restrictions due to the size of cellular complexes of higher dimensions, though. We prove that the algorithm is correct in the sense that it always produces a decomposition into descending and ascending regions of the critical cells in a finite number of steps, and that, after a finite number of subdivisions, all the regions are topological disks. The efficiency of the algorithm is discussed and its performance on several examples is demonstrated.     

Mathematical programs with vanishing constraints: critical point theory

We study mathematical programs with vanishing constraints (MPVCs) from a topological point of view. We introduce the new concept of a T-stationary point for MPVC. Under the Linear Independence Constraint Qualification we derive an equivariant Morse Lemma at nondegenerate T-stationary points. Then, two basic theorems from Morse Theory (deformation theorem and cell-attachment theorem) are proved. Outside the T-stationary point set, continuous deformation of lower level sets can be performed. As a consequence, the topological data (such as the number of connected components) then remain invariant. However, when passing a T-stationary level, the topology of the lower level set changes via the attachment of a q-dimensional cell. The dimension q equals the stationary T-index of the (nondegenerate) T-stationary point. The stationary T-index depends on both the restricted Hessian of the Lagrangian and the number of bi-active vanishing constraints. Further, we prove that all T-stationary points are generically nondegenerate. The latter property is shown to be stable under C ²-perturbations of the defining functions. Finally, some relations with other stationarity concepts, such as strong, weak, and M-stationarity, are discussed.     

Algebraic topological methods for the supercritical Q-curvature problem

We study the problem of existence of conformal metrics with prescribed Q-curvature on closed four-dimensional Riemannian manifolds. This problem has a variational structure, and in the case of interest here, it is noncompact in the sense that accumulations points of some noncompact flow lines of a pseudogradient of the associated Euler–Lagrange functional, the so-called true critical points at infinity of the associated variational problem, occur. Using the characterization of the critical points at infinity of the associated variational problem which is established in [42], combined with some arguments from Morse theory, some algebraic topological methods, and some tools from dynamical system originating from Conley's isolated invariant sets and isolated blocks theory, we derive a new kind of existence results under an algebraic topological hypothesis involving the topology of the underling manifold, stable and unstable manifolds of some of the critical points at infinity of the associated Euler–Lagrange functional.     

Type Numbers of Critical Points for Nonsmooth Functionals

Type numbers of critical points for Lipschitz functionals are studied. Versions of the Morse inequalities are established; it is shown that the topological index of an isolated critical point is equal to the alternated sum of its type numbers. Formulas for calculating the type numbers of the zero critical point of one functional are given.     

Topological Properties of Neumann Domains

A Laplacian eigenfunction on a two-dimensional manifold dictates some natural partitions of the manifold; the most apparent one being the well studied nodal domain partition. An alternative partition is revealed by considering a set of distinguished gradient flow lines of the eigenfunction—those which are connected to saddle points. These give rise to Neumann domains. We establish complementary definitions for Neumann domains and Neumann lines and use basic Morse homology to prove their fundamental topological properties. We study the eigenfunction restrictions to these domains. Their zero set, critical points and spectral properties allow to discuss some aspects of counting the number of Neumann domains and estimating their geometry.     

Morse–Smale Regression

This article introduces a novel partition-based regression approach that incorporates topological information. Partition-based regression typically introduces a quality-of-fit-driven decomposition of the domain. The emphasis in this work is on a topologically meaningful segmentation. Thus, the proposed regression approach is based on a segmentation induced by a discrete approximation of the Morse–Smale complex. This yields a segmentation with partitions corresponding to regions of the function with a single minimum and maximum that are often well approximated by a linear model. This approach yields regression models that are amenable to interpretation and have good predictive capacity. Typically, regression estimates are quantified by their geometrical accuracy. For the proposed regression, an important aspect is the quality of the segmentation itself. Thus, this article introduces a new criterion that measures the topological accuracy of the estimate. The topological accuracy provides a complementary measure to the classical geometrical error measures and is very sensitive to overfitting. The Morse–Smale regression is compared to state-of-the-art approaches in terms of geometry and topology and yields comparable or improved fits in many cases. Finally, a detailed study on climate-simulation data demonstrates the application of the Morse–Smale regression. Supplementary Materials are available online and contain an implementation of the proposed approach in the R package msr, an analysis and simulations on the stability of the Morse–Smale complex approximation, and additional tables for the climate-simulation study.     

Morse and semistable stratifications of Kähler spacesby ${\Bbb C}^{\ast}$-actions

We prove that the Morse decomposition in the sense of Kirwan and semistable decomposition in the sense of GIT of a -K?hler manifold coincide if the moment map is proper and if the fixed points set has a finite number of connected components. For general K?hler space with holomorphic action of a complex reductive group G, if every component of the moment map is proper, the two decompositions also coincide if each semistable piece is Zariski open in its topological closure and the moment map square is minimal degenerate Morse function in the sense of Kirwan. Author’s address: Department of Mathematics, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, P.R. China     

Unstable manifold,Conley index and fixed points of flows

We study dynamical and topological properties of the unstable manifold of isolated invariant compacta of flows. We show that some parts of the unstable manifold admit sections carrying a considerable amount of information. These sections enable the construction of parallelizable structures which facilitate the study of the flow. From this fact, many nice consequences are derived, specially in the case of plane continua. For instance, we give an easy method of calculation of the Conley index provided we have some knowledge of the unstable manifold and, as a consequence, a relation between the Brouwer degree and the unstable manifold is established for smooth vector fields. We study the dynamics of non-saddle sets, properties of existence or non-existence of fixed points of flows and conditions under which attractors are fixed points, Morse decompositions, preservation of topological properties by continuation and classify the bifurcations taking place at a critical point.     

Morse linear functionals on orbits of adjoint action of semisimple Lie groups

Linear functionals on the Lie algebra of an arbitrary semisimple compact Lie group with restrictions of these functionals onto an arbitrary orbit of the adjoint action are considered. Criteria for the criticality and non-degenerate criticality of a point on the orbit are formulated and proved for a given functional, a necessary and sufficient condition for a linear functional to be a Morse function on the orbit is also proved. A method calculating the indices of critical points and its applications in the study of topological properties of orbits are indicated.     

Topological classification of continuous selections of five linear functions

Continuous selections of linear functions play an important role in Morse theory for piecewise C ²-functions. In this article, the topological properties of continuous selections of linear functions are investigated in detail. These are then utilized to provide a complete classification of all continuous selections of five linear functions. This is done by showing that the first four Betti numbers of a simplicial complex induced by such a function fully determine that function up to topological equivalence. The number of different topological types of continuous selections of linear functions has been known only in the case of four or less selection functions so far. The main result of this article now states that there are exactly 26 different topological types of continuous selections of five linear functions.     

Conley–Morse–Forman Theory for Combinatorial Multivector Fields on Lefschetz Complexes

We introduce combinatorial multivector fields, associate with them multivalued dynamics and study their topological features. Our combinatorial multivector fields generalize combinatorial vector fields of Forman. We define isolated invariant sets, Conley index, attractors, repellers and Morse decompositions. We provide a topological characterization of attractors and repellers and prove Morse inequalities. The generalization aims at algorithmic analysis of dynamical systems through combinatorialization of flows given by differential equations and through sampling dynamics in physical and numerical experiments. We provide a prototype algorithm for such applications.     

Application of topological methods to estimate the number of longitudinal elastic waves in crystals

In the problem of estimating the number of longitudinal normals of elastic waves in crystals, several approaches based on the methods of modern topology and associated with the use of topological invariants are proposed. It is shown that for any symmetry class of the crystals there exists not less than three directions along which purely longitudinal waves can propagate. Under the Morse condition on the fundamental function, connections are obtained between the numbers of directions of longitudinal normals corresponding to different types of critical points of this function. Further prospects are discussed.Voronezh Polytechnic Institute. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 94, No. 1, pp. 146–152. January, 1993.     

Conformal metrics with prescribed boundary mean curvature on balls

We provide a variety of classes of functions that can be realized as the mean curvature on the boundary of the standard n dimensional ball, n ≥ 3, with respect to some scalar flat metric. Because of the presence of some critical nonlinearity, blow up phenomena occur and existence results are highly nontrivial since one has to overcome topological obstructions. Our approach consists of, on one hand, developing a Morse theoretical approach to this problem through a Morse-type reduction of the associated Euler–Lagrange functional in a neighborhood of its critical points at Infinity and, on the other hand, extending to this problem some topological invariants introduced by A. Bahri in his study of Yamabe type problems on closed manifolds.     

Loops in Reeb Graphs of 2-Manifolds

Given a Morse function f over a 2-manifold with or without boundary, the Reeb graph is obtained by contracting the connected components of the level sets to points. We prove tight upper and lower bounds on the number of loops in the Reeb graph that depend on the genus, the number of boundary components, and whether or not the 2-manifold is orientable. We also give an algorithm that constructs the Reeb graph in time O(n log n), where n is the number of edges in the triangulation used to represent the 2-manifold and the Morse function.     

A priori estimates for the scalar curvature equation on <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Superscript>3</Superscript>

We obtain a priori estimates for solutions to the prescribed scalar curvature equation on S ³. The usual non-degeneracy assumption on the curvature function is replaced by a new condition, which is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a priori estimates, when the curvature function is a positive Morse function.