Equivariant degree for Abelian actions. III: Orthogonal maps (Q1809487)

The paper represents the third part of the study of the equivariant degree for abelian actions. The authors study orthogonal equivariant maps, in particular gradients and Hamiltonians. Section 1 is devoted to the construction of the degree, first for gradients and then for orthogonal maps. Section 2 contains the main result. In Section 3, the authors extend the degree to infinite dimensions and compare it to the ``normal map'' approach. In Section 4, they compute the index of an isolated orbit and, in Section 5, they study bifurcation. Section 6 treats Hamiltonians. [For part I and II see the authors, ibid. 2, No. 2, 367-413 (1993; Zbl 0815.58004) and ibid. 7, No. 2, 369-430 (1996; Zbl 0899.58004)].