Critical points of non-\(C^2\) functionals (Q2466983)

This paper is concerned with functionals \(J\), that need not be \(C^2\), defined in inner product spaces (not necessarily complete). The purpose is to establish a Morse theory for such functionals, in particular the Morse-Palais decomposition of the local quadratic form at an isolated critical point of \(J\) and a Gromoll-Meyer Splitting theorem. Using a notion of \(V\)-differentiability for a functional \(J\) (roughly, differentiability with respect to a non zero subspace \(V\)) generalized critical level sets and (PS) sequences are defined. The second derivative is represented by a symmetric bounded operator. A quite technical deformation theorem is proved, and it is pointed out that a mountain pass theorem follows. To illustrate the applicability of the results two examples are mentioned. One is about a non \(C^2\) function of two variables which is a small perturbation of \(x^2-y^2\). The other refers to the functional associated to a very strongly singular elliptic boundary value problem in a ball.