The Conley index over a space (Q2276828)

Let \(\phi\) be a flow on the total space X of a fibre bundle p: \(X\to \Lambda\) such that the fibres \(X_{\lambda}=p^{-1}(\lambda)\) are flow invariant. If \(S\subset X\) is an isolated invariant set the Conley index of S over \(\Lambda\) is defined. This is a space over \(\Lambda\), \(\pi\) : \({\mathcal C}(S,\Lambda)\to \Lambda\). The fibre \(\pi^{-1}(\lambda)\) is the usual Conley index \({\mathcal C}(S\cap X_{\lambda})\) of \(S\cap X_{\lambda}\) for the flow restricted to \(X_{\lambda}\). Under mild assumptions on \(\Lambda\pi\) is a weak fibration, in particular \({\mathcal C}(S\cap X_{\lambda})\hookrightarrow {\mathcal C}(S,\Lambda)\to \Lambda\) is exact. This suffices to yield the long exact sequence of homotopy groups and the spectral sequences in homology and cohomology usually associated to fibrations which connect the homotopy groups resp. the (co)homology groups of the Conley index at a fibre, those of the Conley index over \(\Lambda\) and those of the parameter space \(\Lambda\). This approach generalizes and improves on the results of Salamon on the global Conley index. The results are applied to obtain a bifurcation theorem for zeroes of gradient maps which depend on several parameters.