The Conley index and the critical groups via an extension of Gromoll-Meyer theory (Q1380885)

The authors consider a function \(f\) of class \(C^{1}\) defined on a Finsler manifold \(M\). A subset \(S\) of the critical set \(K\) of \(f\) is said to be dynamically isolated, if there exist a closed neighbourhood \({\mathcal O}\) of \(S\) and regular values \(\alpha < \beta\) of \(f\) such that \({\mathcal O}\subseteq f^{-1}([\alpha,\beta])\), and \(\text{ cl}(\eta({\mathcal O}\times \mathbb{R}))\cap K \cap f^{-1}([\alpha,\beta]) = S\), where \(\eta\) is the flow generated by a pseudogradient vector field for \(f\). For a dynamically isolated critical set \(S\), the authors define the critical groups and relate them to the cohomology groups of a Gromoll-Meyer pair for \(S\). Then they show the stability of critical groups under \(C^{1}\)-small perturbations of \(f\) and, in a more particular setting, establish a relation between the degree of \(\nabla f\) and the Euler characteristic of a suitable index pair. In the particular case where \(S\) is just an isolated critical point, several results in the same spirit were already proved by \textit{K. C. Chang} [``Infinite dimensional Morse theory and its applications'' (1985; Zbl 0609.58001)].