Continuation to the minimal number of critical points in gradient flows (Q1202450)

A central idea in the theory of the Conley index is the notion of continuation. Conley has proved that its index is invariant for sets related by continuation. In this paper a partial answer to the converse is proved, i.e. if two sets with the same Conley index are related by continuation. In particular, the main result of the paper is the following: every isolated invariant set \(S\) for a flow on a manifold \(M\), with \(\dim M>5\), can be continued to an isolated invariant set of a gradient-like, Morse-Smale flow, under suitable assumptions on the flow. Some consequences of this result are proved. In particular a result on the number of critical points of perturbations of a function with degenerate critical points is proved.