An application of topological equivalence to Morse theory (Q2659601)

In Morse theory, it is well known that given a Morse function on a finite-dimensional closed smooth manifold, by choosing an appropriate Riemannian metric, one obtains a negative gradient flow that satisfies the transversality condition. The corresponding unstable manifolds of the critical points determine a stratification of \(M\). Moreover, the compactified moduli spaces are homeomorphic to closed cells arising from a CW structure on the manifold. In [\textit{L. Qin}, J. Topol. Anal. 2, No. 4, 469--526 (2010; Zbl 1228.58008)], the author generalized these results by considering an infinite-dimensional Hilbert manifold under the assumption that the metric is locally trivial, which means that the vector field has the simplest form near the critical points. In the current paper, by dropping the assumption of locally triviality on the metric, the author extends the results in [loc. cit.] for the case of proper Morse functions on manifolds of finite dimension but not necessarily compact. Given a Morse function \(f\) on a compact manifold \(M\) and a negative gradient-like vector field \(X\) for \(f\), one of the main theorems in this paper, Theorem A, states that \(X\) is topologically equivalent to a locally trivial negative gradient-like vector field \(Y\) for \(f\). More specifically, it is proven that there is a continuous path \(\mathcal{Y}_t:[0,1]\rightarrow \mathfrak{X}^{\infty}(M)\) of negative gradient-like vector fields for \(f\) with \(\mathcal{Y}_0 = X\) and \(\mathcal{Y}_1=Y\) such that each single vector field \(\mathcal{Y}_t\) on the path satisfies the transversality conditon. Although it is required that \(M\) is compact in Theorem A, the author shows how to reduce the case of a proper Morse function on a noncompact manifold to the compact case. One of the techniques the author applies to prove this theorem is a strengthened version of the classical Morse Lemma. More specifically, the author proves, regardless of the metric, the existence of a Morse chart such that the local invariant manifolds are in standard form on it. The author presents some applications of topological equivalence such as the invariance of the compactified moduli spaces under topological equivalence. Moreover, some properties of the moduli spaces are established. Finally, the author gives a stronger answer for the classical problem of constructing a CW-decomposition of \(M\) from the unstable manifolds of a Morse function in such a way that the homology of the corresponding CW-complex computes the homology of the manifold. An explicit formula for the characteristic maps is presented.