The topology of spaces of Morse functions on surfaces (Q1938650)

Let \(M\) be a compact smooth orientable two dimensional surface whose boundary is partitioned into positive and negative circles, \(\partial M =\partial ^+M\cup \partial^-M\). Let \(F=F(M)\) denote the space of Morse functions on it having at least \(\chi (M)+1\) labeled and numbered critical points, and let \(\mathbb F = \mathbb F (M)\subset F=F(M)\) denote the corresponding subspace consisting of all framed Morse functions. The author already obtained that there is a homotopy equivalence \(F(M)\simeq \mathbb F (M)\) in [\textit{E. A. Kudryavtseva} and \textit{D. A. Permyakov}, Sb. Math. 201, No. 4, 501--567 (2010); translation from Mat. Sb. 201, No. 4, 33--98 (2010; Zbl 1197.57027)] and [``The uniform Morse lemma and criterion for isotopy of Morse functions on surfaces'', Moscow Univ. Math. Bull. 64 (2009)], and she constructed some complex \(\tilde{\mathbb K}\) of framed Morse functions and a smooth stratified manifold \(\tilde{\mathcal M}\) containing \(\mathbb K\) in [``On the homotopy type of the spaces of Morse functions on surfaces'', \url{arXiv:1104.4796}]. In this paper, the author proves that the space \(F(M)\) is homotopy equivalent to the product \(R(M)\times \tilde{\mathcal M}\), where \(R(M)\) denotes one of the spaces \(\mathbb R P^3\), \(S^1\), \(S^1\times S^1\) and the singleton. Moreover, she also proves that \(\mathbb K\subset \tilde{\mathcal M}\) is a deformation retract. By using these results, she also investigates the homology of \(\tilde{\mathcal M}\), and obtains some properties of its Betti numbers.