The Morse equation in Conley's index theory for homeomorphisms (Q2276823)

A homeomorphism of a space X into itself defines a discrete dynamical system. For an isolated invariant (with respect to this system) set S it is possible to construct an index C(S), being a generalization of the Conley index for continuous flows. C(S) consists of a graded vector space \(\{E_ n(S)\}\) over \({\mathbb{Q}}\), together with a certain automorphism. If all the spaces \(E_ n(S)\) are finitely generated, put \(p(t,S)=\sum (\dim E_ n(S))t^ n\). Similarly like in the continuous case, a Morse decomposition \((M_ 1,...,M_ n)\) of S is defined. The main result states, that if X is a compact ANR then \[ \sum p(t,M_ j)=p(t,S)+(1+t)Q(t), \] where Q is a formal power series with nonnegative integer coefficients. An application of this result is given.