Witten-Morse theory for cell complexes (Q1292632)

This work takes place in a sequence of papers by the same author [Topology 32, No. 1, 35-46 (1993; Zbl 0780.05041); Conf. Proc. Lect. Notes Geom. Topol. 4, 112-125 (1995; Zbl 0867.57018); Adv. Math. 134, No. 1, 90-145 (1998; Zbl 0896.57023); Math. Z. 228, No. 4, 629-681(1998; Zbl 0922.58063)]. Here a proof of the combinatorial Morse inequalities along the lines of Witten's Hodge-theoretic proof of the standard Morse inequalities is presented. Some difficulties of the smooth theory, arising from the infinite dimension in analysis or transversality, disappear. And the combinatorial theory can be applied to very general cell complexes. The end of the paper concerns the Morse complex, a differentiable complex built out of the critical points of a Morse function and which has the same homology as the underlying manifold \(M\). As an application, it is shown that the Reidemeister torsion of an orthogonal representation of the fundamental group of \(M\) can be calculated from a modified Morse complex taking into account the representation. It is the analogous statement, in the combinatorial context, of a result of \textit{J. Milnor} in the smooth case [Lectures on the \(h\)-cobordism theorem (1965; Zbl 0161.20302)].