Witten deformation and polynomial differential forms (Q1573687)

The Witten deformation of the cohomology [\textit{E. Witten}, J. Differ. Geom. 17, 661-692 (1982; Zbl 0499.53056)] is computed for noncompact manifolds \(M\) having cylindrical structure near infinity. It is proved that the cohomology of the Witten deformation \(d_h\) acting on the complex of the polynomially growing forms can be computed as the relative cohomology of the pair \((M,F)\) where \(F\) is a negative remote fiber of \(h\) under some assumptions. Here \(F=h^{-1}(-c)\) where \(c>0\) is large enough [cf. \textit{A. Braverman} and \textit{M. Braverman}, `Tempered currents and the cohomology of the remote fiber of a real polynomial map', preprint, \url{http://arXiv.org/abs/alg-geom/9704001}]. It is also shown that the assumptions of the theorem are satisfied in a number of cases, e.g. \(h\) is quasi-homogeneous; the Newton polyhedron of \(h\) lies under a hyperplane \(\sigma\), and the polynomial \(h^{\sigma}\) has no critical points on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) except the origin; \(h\) is bounded from below.