Maslov index and Novikov-Wall theorem (Q2493344)

This paper considers a \(4k\) dimensional manifold with boundary \(M\) which is the union of two submanifolds with boundary \(M_{1}\) and \(M_{2}\) joined along a submanifold with boundary \(X_0\) of their boundaries. There is then a formula due to C. T. C. Wall expressing \(\sigma (M)-\sigma (M_{1})-\sigma (M_{2})\) in terms of the Maslov index associated to \( X_{0},X_{1}=\partial M_{1}-X_{0}\), and \(X_{2}=\partial M_{2}-X_{0}.\) It is shown that this permits computation of the signature of a closed manifold using a Morse function.