On the Morse index of Willmore spheres in \(S^3\) (Q2214591)

The author obtains an upper bound for the Morse index of Willmore spheres \(\Sigma \subset S^3\) coming from an immersion of \(S^2\). The quantization of Willmore energy, which is a consequence of the classification of Willmore spheres in \(S^3\) by [\textit{R. L. Bryant}, J. Differ. Geom. 20, 23--53 (1984; Zbl 0555.53002)], shows that there exists an integer \(m\) such that \(\mathcal{W}(\Sigma) = 4\pi m\). The main result of this long and interesting paper shows that the Morse index \(\text{Ind}_{ \mathcal{W}}(\Sigma)\) of a Willmore sphere \(\Sigma\) satisfies the inequality \(\text{Ind}_{ \mathcal{W}}(\Sigma)\leq m\) (Theorem 1.1).