Morse inequalities for orbifold Borel homology (Q2219250)

Given a closed, smooth manifold \(M\) a result by \textit{E. Pitcher} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 64, 1--30 (1958; Zbl 0083.32704)] gives an equality and another family of inequalities relating the critical points of any Morse function on \(M\) to the free rank and torsion coefficients of \(H_\ast(M;\mathbb{Z})\). This paper establishes analogous results where \(M\) is replaced by a smooth orbifold \(Q\). This is done by defining equivariant Morse functions on \(Q\) and replacing singular homology by Borel homology, \(H_\ast(BQ;\mathbb{Z})\). This modification also requires a new, equivariant definition of critical points. Given an orbifold Morse function \(h\) on \(Q\), and letting \(\mathfrak{C}\) denote the critical points of \(h\) with trivial local group, and also choosing for critical points \(p\not\in\mathfrak{C}\) Morse functions \(f_p:BG_p\to R\), the author defines \[ C_i(h,\mathcal{F}):=\#(\text{crit}_i(h)\cap\mathfrak C)+\sum_{p\in \text{crit}\setminus \mathfrak C}\#(\text{crit}_{i-\lambda_p^h}(f_p)) \] where \(\lambda_p^h\) denotes the index of the local approximation of \(h\) at \(p\). Then the paper's analogue of Pitcher's result states that for \(r_i\) and \(t_i\) denoting the free rank and number of torsion coefficients respectively of \(H_i(BQ;\mathbb Z)\), \[ \sum_{i=0}^k (-1)^{k-i}C_i(h,\mathcal F)\ge t_k+\sum_{i=0}^k (-1)^{k-i}r_k \] for all \(k\ge 0\), and as a corollary, \[ C_k(h,\mathcal F)\ge r_k+t_k+t_{k-1}. \] The proof makes use of a spectral sequence of \textit{J. Latschev} [Math. Ann. 318, No. 4, 731--759 (2000; Zbl 1011.53059)] and an equality involving ranks of this spectral sequence from \textit{J. McCleary} [A user's guide to spectral sequences. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2001; Zbl 0959.55001)], arguing that the inequality persists to the \(E^\infty\) page. Examples establishing the sharpness of these inequalities for 2-orbifolds and 3-orbifolds are given in the final sections.