An index theory for paths that are solutions of a class of strongly indefinite variational problems. (Q1396207)

The authors generalize the Morse index theorem in the context of symplectic differential systems, i.e. linear homogeneous systems of ODEs in \(T^*\mathbb R^n=\mathbb R^n\oplus{\mathbb R^n}^*\) with coefficient matrix being a curve in \({\text{sp}}(2n,\mathbb R)\). Associated to a symplectic system \(X\) with Lagrangian initial data there is a notion of Maslov index \({\text{ i}}_{\text{ Maslov}}(X)\) and of index form \(I\). For hyper-regular Hamiltonian systems (in particular for the geodesic flows) the index form coincides with the second variation of the Lagrangian action functional. A one-dimensional family of subspaces \(\mathcal{D}\) in \(\mathbb R^n\) determines a reduced symplectic system \(X_{\text{ red}}\). Denote by \({\mathcal K}_{\mathcal D}\) the space of variational vector fields along the curve. If the family \(\mathcal D\) contains maximal negative subspaces (for semi-Riemannian manifolds this has the obvious meaning), then the Morse index \(n_-(I| _{{\mathcal K}_{\mathcal D}})\) of the \({\mathcal K}_{\mathcal D}\)-restriction of the index form equals the difference \({\text{ i}}_{\text{ Maslov}}(X)-{\text{ i}}_{\text{ Maslov}}(X_{\text{ red}})\) between the Maslov index of the original symplectic system and the Maslov index of the reduction, plus a certain correction term \(n_-(B^{-1}_P)\) determined by the initial conditions. The obtained generalized index theorem is applied to the system of semi-Riemannian geodesics (the standard Morse theory fails to apply because the Palais-Smale condition does not hold). In this case the symplectic system is the Morse-Sturm system, obtained from the Jacobi equation along the given geodesic via the parallel trivialization of the tangent bundle, \(\mathcal D\) is the distribution spanned by linearly independent commuting Killing vector fields and \(I\) the Morse index form. In this specification the result implies lower estimates on the number of geodesics joining two fixed non-conjugate points. In particular, for stationary semi-Riemannian manifolds and Gödel-type manifolds the Morse-type relations are obtained.