Axiomatization of the degree of Fitzpatrick, Pejsachowicz and Rabier (Q2073452)

The main goal of this paper is to axiomatize the Fitzpatrick-Pejsachowicz-Rabier degree in the same vein as the Brouwer and Leray-Schauder degrees were axiomatized by Fuhrer and Amann and Weiss, respectively. In other words, a minimal set of properties that characterize the topological degree of Fitzpatrick, Pejsachowicz, and Rabier is given. Let \(X, Y\) be real Banach spaces, and let \(\Omega\) be an open and bounded subset of \(X\). An operator \(f\colon \overline{\Omega}\to Y\) is \({\mathcal C}^{1}\)-Fredholm of index zero if \(f\in {\mathcal C}^{1}(\overline{\Omega},Y)\) and its derivative \(Df\) is a continuous on \(\Omega\) with values in the set of Fredholm operators of index zero, that is, \(Df \in {\mathcal C}(\Omega,\Phi_{0}(X, Y))\). The set of all these operators is denoted by \({\mathcal F}^{1}_{0}(\Omega, Y)\). Operator \(f\in {\mathcal F}^{1}_{0}(\Omega, Y)\) is orientable if \(Df\colon \Omega \to \Phi_{0}(X, Y)\) is an orientable map. A triple \((f,\Omega,\varepsilon)\) is a Fredholm admissible triple if (1) \(f\in {\mathcal F}^{1}_{0}(\Omega, Y)\) is orientable with orientation \(\varepsilon\), (2) \(f^{-1}(K)\) is compact for every compact subset \(K\subset Y\), (3) \(0\notin f(\partial \Omega)\). Let \({\mathscr A}\) be the set of all admissible triples. The main result of the paper is a proof that there exists a unique map \(\mathrm{deg}\colon {\mathscr A}\to {\mathbb Z}\) satisfying the following conditions. \begin{itemize} \item[(N)] Normalization: \(\mathrm{deg}(L,\Omega,\varepsilon)=\varepsilon(0)\), for all linear isomorphisms \(L\colon X\to Y\), if \(0\in \Omega\). \item[(A)] Additivity: \(\mathrm{deg}(f,\Omega,\varepsilon)=\mathrm{deg}(f,\Omega_1,\varepsilon)+\mathrm{deg}(f,\Omega_2,\varepsilon)\) if \((f,\Omega,\varepsilon)\in {\mathscr A}\) and \(\Omega_1,\Omega_2\) are disjoint open subsets of \(\Omega\) such that \(0\not\in f(\Omega\setminus(\Omega_1\uplus \Omega_2))\). \item[(H)] Homotopy invariance: \(\mathrm{deg}(H(0,\cdot),\Omega,\varepsilon_0)=\mathrm{deg}(H(1,\cdot),\Omega,\varepsilon_1)\), for every proper \({\mathcal C}^{1}\)-Fredholm homotopy \(H\in {\mathcal C}^{1}([0,1]\times \overline{\Omega},Y)\) with orientation \(\varepsilon\) and \((H(t,\cdot),\Omega,\varepsilon_t)\in {\mathscr A}\), for all \(t\in [0,1]\). \end{itemize} Crucial ingredients of the proof are the generalized algebraic multiplicity of Esquinas and Lopez-Gomez and the axiomatization theorem of Mora-Corral.