Morse-Bott functions and the Witten Laplacian (Q1818730)

Let \((N,g)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold. Let \(h\) be a Morse-Bott function, and let \(V\) be a flat vector bundle. Witten defined the \(1\)-parameter deformation of the exterior derivative setting \(d_\alpha:=e^{-\alpha h}de^{\alpha h}\). The deformed Laplacian \[ L_\alpha:=d_\alpha d_\alpha^*+d_\alpha^*d_\alpha \] acts on the space of smooth \(V\)-valued differential forms. In this paper, the author studies the spectrum of this operator as \(\alpha\rightarrow\infty\). If \(M\) is the critical manifold of \(h\), the author shows that the eigenvalues of \(L_\alpha\) which stay bounded converge to the eigenvalues of the Laplacian on \(M\) twisted by the orientation bundle of the negative directions in the normal bundle to \(M\) in \(N\). The author provides estimates giving the rate of convergence and uses the adiabatic limit technique of Mazzeo-Melrose and Forman. The author gives as an application a new proof of the Thom isomorphism and of the degenerate inequalities of Morse.