Stable equilibria and vector field index (Q1803751)

A (Lyapunov) stable equilibrium of a vector field on \(\mathbb{R}^ n\) is considered. It is known [\textit{H. Amann}, Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen (De Gruyter, Berlin, 1983); English translation (1990; Zbl 0708.34002)], that if 0 is an asymptotically stable equilibrium, then the (Hopf) index of the vector field \(F\) at 0 equals \((-1)^ n\). For \(n=2\), this is true even if 0 is only a stable equilibrium. However, for \(n>2\), this is not true for a stable equilibrium. As it turns out, for \(n\geq 4\), every integer \(k\) (for \(n=3\) only \(k\geq-1)\) can be realized as an index of a smooth vector field at stable equilibrium.