We prove an extension of the Index Theorem for Morse-Sturm systems of the form $-V''+RV=0$, where R is symmetric with respect to a (non positive) symmetric bilinear form, and thus the corresponding differential operator is not self-adjoint. The result is then applied to the case of a Jacobi equation along a geodesic in a Lorentzian manifold, obtaining an extension of the Morse Index Theorem for Lorentzian geodesics with variable initial endpoints. Given a Lorentzian manifold (M,g), we consider a geodesic $γ$ in M starting orthogonally to a smooth submanifold P of M. Under suitable hypotheses, satisfied, for instance, if (M,g) is stationary, the theorem gives an equality between the index of the second variation of the action functional f at $γ$ and the sum of the {\em Maslov index} of $γ$ with the index of the metric g on P. Under generic circumstances, the Maslov index of $γ$ is given by an algebraic count of the P-focal points along $γ$. Using the Maslov index, we obtain the global Morse relations for geodesics between two fixed points in a stationary Lorentzian manifold.
Perturbed geodesics are trajectories of particles moving on a semi-Riemannian manifold in the presence of a potential. Our purpose here is to extend to perturbed geodesics on semi-Riemannian manifolds the well known Morse Index Theorem. When the metric is indefinite, the Morse index of the energy functional becomes infinite and hence, in order to obtain a meaningful statement, we substitute the Morse index by its relative form, given by the spectral flow of an associated family of index forms. We also introduce a new counting for conjugate points, which need not to be isolated in this context,…
We give a short proof of the Morse index theorem for geodesics in semi-Riemannian manifolds by using K-theory. This makes the Morse index theorem reminiscent of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem for families of selfadjoint elliptic operators.
The Witten deformation associated to a Morse function on a closed Riemannian manifold, via Rellich-Kato theorem, relates analytically the spectral package of the Riemannian manifold (eigenvalues and eigenforms) to the Morse complex defined by the pair (Morse function, Riemannian metric) coupled with the "multivariable harmonic oscillators" associated to the critical points of the Morse function. We survey this relation and discuss some implications, including the finite subset of the spectral package referred to as the "virtually small spectral package" .
We show that the Morse index of a closed minimal hypersurface in a four-dimensional Riemannian manifold cannot be bound in terms of the volume and the topological invariants of the hypersurface itself by presenting a method for constructing Riemannian metrics on S^4 that admit embedded minimal hyperspheres of uniformly bounded volume and arbitrarily large Morse index. The phenomena we exhibit are in striking contrast with the three-dimensional compactness results by Choi-Schoen.
We consider a family of variational problems on a Hilbert manifold parameterized by an open subset of a Banach manifold, and we discuss the genericity of the nondegeneracy condition for the critical points. Based on an idea of B. White, we prove an abstract genericity result that employs the infinite dimensional Sard--Smale theorem. Applications are given by proving the genericity of metrics without degenerate geodesics between fixed endpoints in general (non compact) semi-Riemannian manifolds, in orthogonally split semi-Riemannian manifolds and in globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds. We …
We prove a semi-Riemannian version of the celebrated Morse Index Theorem for geodesics in semi-Riemannian manifolds; we consider the general case of both endpoints variable on two submanifolds. The key role of the theory is played by the notion of the {\em Maslov index} of a semi-Riemannian geodesic, which is a homological invariant and it substitutes the notion of geometric index in Riemannian geometry. Under generic circumstances, the Maslov index of a geodesic is computed as a sort of {\em algebraic count} of the conjugate points along the geodesic. For non positive definite metrics the ind…
The computation of the index of the Hessian of the action functional in semi-Riemannian geometry at geodesics with two variable endpoints is reduced to the case of a fixed final endpoint. Using this observation, we give an elementary proof of the Morse Index Theorem for Riemannian geodesics with two variable endpoints, in the spirit of the original Morse's proof. This approach reduces substantially the effort required in the proofs of the Theorem given in previous articles on the subject. Exactly the same argument works also in the case of timelike geodesics between two submanifolds of a Loren…
In this paper we find sufficient conditions for the vanishing of the Morse-Novikov cohomology on Riemannian foliations. We work out a Bochner technique for twisted cohomological complexes, obtaining corresponding vanishing results. Also, we generalize for our setting vanishing results from the case of closed Riemannian manifolds. Several examples are presented, along with applications in the context of l.c.s. and l.c.K. foliations.
In this article, we first consider the $L^{2}$ \textit{Morse-Novikov cohomology} on a complete Riemannian manifold $M$ equipped with a parallel $1$-form which includes Vaisman manifold. Based on a vanishing theorem of $L^{2}$ \textit{Morse-Novikov cohomology}, we prove that the $L^{2}$-harmonic forms on $M$ are identically zero.
We prove a generalized version of the Morse index theorem for geodesics endowed with a non positive definite metric tensor (semi-Riemannian manifolds). We apply the result to obtain lower estimates on the number of geodesics joining two fixed non conjugate points in certain classes of manifolds. More specifically, we consider semi-Riemannian manifolds $(M,\mathfrak g)$ admitting a smooth distribution spanned by commuting Killing vector fields and containing a maximal negative distribution for $\mathfrak$. In particular we obtain Morse relations for stationary semi-Riemannian manifolds and for …
This is the second of a series of two papers where we construct embedded Willmore tori with small area constraint in Riemannian three-manifolds. In both papers the construction relies on a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction, the difficulty being the Möbius degeneration of the tori. In the first paper the construction was performed via minimization, here by Morse Theory; to this aim we establish new geometric expansions of the derivative of the Willmore functional on exponentiated small Clifford tori degenerating, under the action of the Möbius group, to small geodesic spheres with a small handle. By u…
A celebrated result due to Poincaré affirms that a closed non-degenerate minimizing geodesic $γ$ on an oriented Riemannian surface is hyperbolic. Starting from this classical theorem, our first main result is a general instability criterion for timelike and spacelike closed semi-Riemannian geodesics on a (non)oriented manifold. A key role is played by the spectral index, a new topological invariant that we define through the spectral flow (being the Morse index truly infinite) of a path of selfadjoint Fredholm operators. A major step in the proof of this result is a em new spectral flow formul…
The idea of Lichnerowicz or Morse-Novikov cohomology groups of a manifold has been utilized by many researchers to study important properties and invariants of a manifold. Morse-Novikov cohomology is defined using the differential $d_ω=d+ω\wedge$, where $ω$ is a closed $1$-form. We study Morse-Novikov cohomology relative to a foliation on a manifold and its homotopy invariance and then extend it to more general type of forms on a Riemannian foliation. We study the Laplacian and Hodge decompositions for the corresponding differential operators on reduced leafwise Morse-Novikov complexes. In the…
In this article, we study conjectures of Sandon on the minimal number of translated points in the special case of the unit tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold. We restrict ourselves to contactomorphisms of $SM$ that lift diffeomorphisms of $M$ homotopic to identity. We prove that there exist sequences $(p_n,t_n)$ where $p_n$ is a translated point of time-shift $t_n$ with $t_n\to+\infty$ for a large class of manifolds. We also prove Morse estimates on the number of translated points in the case of Zoll Riemannian manifolds.
In this paper, we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for $L^{\infty}$-uniqueness of Sturm-Liouville operator $a(x)\frac{d^2}{dx^2} + b(x) \frac d{dx} -V$ on an open interval of $\rr$, which is equivalent to the $L^1$-uniqueness of the associated Fokker-Planck equation. For a general elliptic operator $\LL^V:=Δ+b \cdot\nabla -V$ on a Riemannian manifold, we obtain sharp sufficient conditions for the $L^1$-uniqueness of the Fokker-Planck equation associated with $\LL^V$, via comparison with a one-dimensional Sturm-Liouville operator. Furthermore the $L^1$-Liouville property is derived a…
In this paper we investigate Lott-Sturm-Villani's synthetic lower Ricci curvature bound on Riemannian manifolds with boundary. We prove several measure rigidity results for some important functional and geometric inequalities, which completely characterize ${\rm CD}(K, \infty)$ condition and non-collapsed ${\rm CD}(K, N)$ condition on Riemannian manifolds with boundary. In particular, using $L^1$-optimal transportation theory, we prove that ${\rm CD}(K, \infty)$ condition implies geodesical convexity.
For a Morse function on a closed orientable Riemannian manifold one introduces the {\it virtually small spectral package} an analytic object consisting of a finite number of analytic quantities derived from the pair, {\it Riemannian metric, Morse function\} which, in principle, can be calculated. One shows that they determine the {\it Torsion } of the underlying space, a parallel to the result that the dimensions of the spaces of harmonic forms calculate the {\it Euler-Poincaré characteristic} of the underlying space and extends the {\it Poincaré Duality} between harmonic forms and between Bet…
We describe an extension of Morse theory to smooth functions on compact Riemannian manifolds, without any nondegeneracy assumptions except that the critical locus must have only finitely many connected components.
We introduce the notion of spectral flow along a periodic semi-Riemannian geodesic, as a suitable substitute of the Morse index in the Riemannian case. We study the growth of the spectral flow along a closed geodesic under iteration, determining its asymptotic behavior.
In this paper we are concerned with harmonic maps and minimal immersions defined on compact Riemannian manifolds and with values in homogenous strongly harmonic manifolds. We show some results on the Morse index by varying these maps along suitable conformal vector fields. We obtain also that they are global maxima on some subspaces of the eigenspaces corresponding to the nonvanishing eigenvalues of the Laplacian operator on the target manifolds.
We develop a bubble-compactness theory for embedded CMC hypersurfaces with bounded index and area inside closed Riemannian manifolds in low dimensions. In particular we show that convergence always occurs with multiplicity one, which implies that the minimal blow-ups (bubbles) are all catenoids. We also provide bounds on the area of separating CMC surfaces of bounded (Morse) index and use this, together with the previous results, to bound their genus.
We use the heat flow on the loop space of a closed Riemannian manifold to construct an algebraic chain complex. The chain groups are generated by perturbed closed geodesics. The boundary operator is defined in the spirit of Floer theory by counting, modulo time shift, heat flow trajectories that converge asymptotically to nondegenerate closed geodesics of Morse index difference one.
This is essentially a note on Section 7 of Perelman's first paper on Ricci flow. We list some basic properties of the index form for Perelman's $ \mathcal{L} $-length, which are analogous to the ones in Riemannian case (with fixed metric), and observe that Morse's index theorem for Perelman's $\mathcal{L}$-length holds. As a corollary we get the finiteness of the number of the $\mathcal{L}$-conjugate points along a finite $\mathcal{L}$-geodesic.
In contrast with the 3-dimensional case (cf. \cite{RaMo}), where rotationally symmetric totally geodesic free boundary minimal surfaces have Morse index one; we prove in this work that the Morse index of a free boundary rotationally symmetric totally geodesic hypersurface of the $n$-dimensional Riemannnian Schwarzschild space with respect to variations that are tangential along the horizon is zero, for $n\geq4$. Moreover, we show that there exist non-compact free boundary minimal hypersurfaces which are not totally geodesic, $n\geq 8$, with Morse index equal to $0$. Also, it is shown that, for…
We prove the shifting theorems of the critical groups of critical points and critical orbits for the energy functionals of Finsler metrics on Hilbert manifolds of $H^1$-curves, and two splitting lemmas for the functionals on Banach manifolds of $C^1$-curves. Two results on critical groups of iterated closed geodesics are also proved; their corresponding versions on Riemannian manifolds are based on the usual splitting lemma by Gromoll and Meyer (1969). Our approach consists in deforming the square of the Finsler metric in a Lagrangian which is smooth also on the zero section and then in using …
Motivated by the use of degenerate Jacobi metrics for the study of brake orbits and homoclinics, we develop a Morse theory for geodesics in conformal metrics having conformal factors vanishing on a regular hypersurface of a Riemannian manifold.
Classical Sturm non-oscillation and comparison theorems as well as the Sturm theorem on zeros for solutions of second order differential equations have a natural symplectic version, since they describe the rotation of a line in the phase plane of the equation. In the higher dimensional symplectic version of these theorems, lines are replaced by Lagrangian subspaces and intersections with a given line are replaced by non-transversality instants with a distinguished Lagrangian subspace. Thus the symplectic Sturm theorems describe some properties of the Maslov index. Starting from the celebrated …
For any compact Lie group $G$ and closed, smooth Riemannian manifold $(X,g)$ of dimension $d\geq 2$, we extend a result due to Uhlenbeck (1985) that gives existence of a flat connection on a principal $G$-bundle over $X$ supporting a connection with $L^p$-small curvature, when $p>d/2$, to the case of a connection with $L^{d/2}$-small curvature. We prove an optimal Lojasiewicz-Simon gradient inequality for abstract Morse-Bott functions on Banach manifolds, generalizing an earlier result due to the author and Maridakis in arXiv:1510.03817. We apply this result to prove the optimal Lojasiewicz-Si…
Let f be a smooth Morse function on an infinite dimensional separable Hilbert manifold, all of whose critical points have infinite Morse index and co-index. For any critical point x choose an integer a(x) arbitrarily. Then there exists a Riemannian structure on M such that the corresponding gradient flow of f has the following property: for any pair of critical points x,y, the unstable manifold of x and the stable manifold of y have a transverse intersection of dimension a(x)-a(y).
We generalise the semi-Riemannian Morse index theorem to elliptic systems of partial differential equations on star-shaped domains. Moreover, we apply our theorem to bifurcation from a branch of trivial solutions of semilinear systems, where the bifurcation parameter is introduced by shrinking the domain to a point. This extends recent results of the authors for scalar equations.
This is a survey paper on Morse theory and the existence problem for closed geodesics. The free loop space plays a central role, since closed geodesics are critical points of the energy functional. As such, they can be analyzed through variational methods. The topics that we discuss include: Riemannian background, the Lyusternik-Fet theorem, the Lyusternik-Schnirelmann principle of subordinated classes, the Gromoll-Meyer theorem, Bott's iteration of the index formulas, homological computations using Morse theory, $SO(2)$- vs. $O(2)$-symmetries, Katok's examples and Finsler metrics, relations t…
In this paper, we give an improved Morse index bound of minimal hypersurfaces from Almgren-Pitts min-max construction in any closed Riemannian manifold $M^{n+1}$ $(n+1 \geq 3$), which generalizes a result by X. Zhou \cite{zhou_multiplicity_2019} for $3 \leq n+1 \leq 7$. The novel techniques are the construction of hierarchical deformations and the restrictive min-max theory. These techniques do not rely on bumpy metrics, and thus could be adapted to many other min-max settings.
Inspired by work of Ejiri-Micallef on closed minimal surfaces, we compare the energy index and the area index of a free-boundary minimal surface of a Riemannian manifold with boundary, and show that the area index is controlled from above by the area and the topology of the surface. Combining these results with work of Fraser-Li, we conclude that the area index of a free-boundary minimal surface in a convex domain of Euclidean three-space, is bounded from above by a linear function of its genus and its number of boundary components. We also prove index bounds for submanifolds of higher dimensi…
Examples of Morse functions with integrable gradient flows on some classical Riemannian manifolds are considered. In particular, we show that a generic height function on the symmetric embeddings of classical Lie groups and certain symmetric spaces is a perfect Morse function, i.e. has as many critical points as the homology requires, and the corresponding gradient flow can be described explicitly. This gives an explicit cell decomposition and geometric realization of the homology for such a manifold. As another application of the integrable Morse functions we give an elementary proof of Vassi…
The curvature dimension condition CD(K,N), pioneered by Sturm and Lott--Villani, is a synthetic notion of having curvature bounded below and dimension bounded above, in the non-smooth setting. This condition implies a suitable generalization of the Brunn--Minkowski inequality, denoted by BM(K,N). In this paper, we address the converse implication in the setting of weighted Riemannian manifolds, proving that BM(K,N) is in fact equivalent to CD(K,N). Our result allows to characterize the curvature dimension condition without using neither the optimal transport nor the differential structure of t…
Is it possible to obtain unbounded minimal surfaces in certain asymptotically flat 3-manifolds as a limit of solutions to a natural mountain pass problem with diverging boundaries? In this work, we give evidence that this might be true by analyzing related aspects in the case of the exact Riemannian Schwarzschild manifold. More precisely, we observe that the simplest minimal surface in this space has Morse index one. We prove also a relationship between the length of the boundary and the density at infinity of general minimal surfaces satisfying a free-boundary condition along the horizon.
In this paper, we establish a min-max theory for constructing minimal disks with free boundary in any closed Riemannian manifold. The main result is an effective version of the partial Morse theory for minimal disks with free boundary established by Fraser. Our theory also includes as a special case the min-max theory for Plateau problem of minimal disks, which can be used to generalize the famous work by Morse-Thompkins and Shiffman on minimal surfaces in $\mathbf{R}^n$ to the Riemannian setting. More precisely, we generalize the min-max construction of minimal surfaces using harmonic replace…
Given a Lorentzian manifold $(M,g)$, a geodesic $γ$ in $M$ and a timelike Jacobi field $\mathcal Y$ along $γ$, we introduce a special class of instants along $γ$ that we call $\mathcal Y$-pseudo conjugate (or focal relatively to some initial orthogonal submanifold). We prove that the $\mathcal Y$-pseudo conjugate instants form a finite set, and their number equals the Morse index of (a suitable restriction of) the index form. This gives a Riemannian-like Morse index theorem. As special cases of the theory, we will consider geodesics in stationary and static Lorentzian manifolds, where the Jaco…
Let X be a compact oriented Riemannian manifold and let $ϕ:X\to S^1$ be a circle-valued Morse function. Under some mild assumptions on $ϕ$, we prove a formula relating: (a) the number of closed orbits of the gradient flow of $ϕ$ of any given degree; (b) the torsion of a ``Morse complex'', which counts gradient flow lines between critical points of $ϕ$; and (c) a kind of Reidemeister torsion of X determined by the homotopy class of $ϕ$. When $\dim(X)=3$ and $b_1(X)>0$, we state a conjecture analogous to Taubes's ``SW=Gromov'' theorem, and we use it to deduce (for closed manifolds, modulo signs)…
In case of the heat flow on the free loop space of a closed Riemannian manifold non-triviality of Morse homology for semi-flows is established by constructing a natural isomorphism to singular homology of the loop space. The construction is also new in finite dimensions. The main idea is to build a Morse filtration using Conley pairs and their pre-images under the time-$T$-map of the heat flow. A crucial step is to contract each Conley pair onto its part in the unstable manifold. To achieve this we construct stable foliations for Conley pairs using the recently found backward $λ$-Lemma [31]. T…
We consider a {\em Hamiltonian setup} $\sextuple$, where $(\mathcal M,ω)$ is a symplectic manifold, $\mathfrak L$ is a distribution of Lagrangian subspaces in $\mathcal M$, $\mathcal P$ a Lagrangian submanifold of $ \mathcal M$, $H$ is a smooth time dependent Hamiltonian function on $\mathcal M$ and $Γ:[a,b]\to\mathcal M$ is an integral curve of the Hamiltonian flow $\Hf$ starting at $\mathcal P$. We do not require any convexity property of the Hamiltonian function $H$. Under the assumption that $Γ(b)$ is not $\mathcal P$-focal it is introduced the Maslov index $\maslov(Γ)$ of $Γ$ given in ter…
Witten-Helffer-Sjöstrand theory is an addition to Morse theory and Hodge-de Rham theory for Riemannian manifolds and considerably improves on them by injecting some spectral theory of elliptic operators. It can serve as a general tool to prove results about comparison of numerical invariants associated to compact manifolds analytically, i.e. by using a Riemannian metric, or combinatorially, i.e. by using a triangulation. It can be also refined to provide an alternative presentation of Novikov Morse theory and improve on it in many respects. In particular it can be used in symplectic topology a…
For any smooth Riemannian metric on an $(n+1)$-dimensional compact manifold with boundary $(M,\partial M)$ where $3\leq (n+1)\leq 7$, we establish general upper bounds for the Morse index of free boundary minimal hypersurfaces produced by min-max theory in the Almgren-Pitts setting. We apply our Morse index estimates to prove that for almost every (in the $C^\infty$ Baire sense) Riemannan metric, the union of all compact, properly embedded free boundary minimal hypersurfaces is dense in $M$. If $\partial M$ is further assumed to have a strictly mean convex point, we show the existence of infin…
Given a compact four-dimensional Riemannian manifold $(M, g)$ with boundary, we study the problem of existence of Riemannian metrics on $M$ conformal to $g$ with prescribed $Q$-curvature in the interior $\mathring{M}$ of $M$, and zero $T$-curvature and mean curvature on the boundary $\partial M$ of $M$. This geometric problem is equivalent to solving a fourth-order elliptic boundary value problem (BVP) involving the Paneitz operator with boundary conditions of Chang-Qing and Neumann operators. The corresponding BVP has a variational formulation but the corresponding variational problem, in the…
We study the resonant prescribed T-curvature problem on a compact 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold with boundary. We derive sharp energy and gradient estimates of the associated Euler-Lagrange functional to characterize the critical points at infinity of the associated variational problem under a non-degeneracy on a naturally associated Hamiltonian function. Using this, we derive a Morse type lemma around the critical points at infinity. Using the Morse lemma at infinity, we prove new existence results of Morse theoretical type. Combining the Morse lemma at infinity and the Liouville version …
The main result of this article states that the (K;N)-cone over some metric measure space satisfies the reduced Riemannian curvature-dimension condition RCD^*(KN;N+1) if and only if the underlying space satisfies RCD^*(N-1;N). The proof uses a characterization of reduced Riemannian curvature-dimension bounds by Bochner's inequality that was established for metric measure spaces by Erbar, Kuwada and Sturm and independently by Ambrosio, Mondino and Savaré. As corollary of our result and the Cheeger-Gigli-Gromoll splitting theorem we obtain a maximal diameter theorem for metric measure spaces tha…
