No label defined (Q4023699)

The author studies Morse functions on smooth finite-dimensional manifolds. In Chapter I, ``Fréchet manifolds'', he summarizes necessary information about Fréchet spaces and manifolds, which then are used for the stratification of smooth functions on manifolds. The main results are exposed in Chapter II, ``Minimal Morse functions on simply connected manifolds'', and these results refer to necessary and sufficient conditions when two minimal Morse functions on a smooth simply connected manifold of dimension greater than five are, respectively, homotopic, isotopic or conjugate. In Chapter III, ``Stable algebra'', the author presents some algebraic techniques applied to the construction of some minimal chain complexes over \(s\)-rings and also used for deducing necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of minimal chain complexes within a given homotopy type. In Chapter IV, ``Homotopy theory of chain complexes'', he uses this theory to study Morse functions for non-simply connected cobordism. In Chapter V, ``Morse numbers and Morse minimal functions'', he proves the existence of minimal Morse functions for a wide class of non-simply connected cobordisms. Introduced are some invariant numbers of a manifold by which the Morse inequalities are considerably strengthened. In Chapter VI, ``Elements of the homotopy theory of non-simply connected chain complexes'', the author deduces some results for discussing homotopy properties of chain complexes which are necessary for the study of Morse functions on closed manifolds. The Whitehead homotopical systems are considered. Chapter VII, ``The minimal Morse functions on non-simply connected manifolds'', studies the existence of minimal Morse functions on closed manifolds and on manifolds having only a one-component boundary. Finally, Chapter VIII studies circular minimal Morse functions in the sense of W. Thurston (1976), and some recent achievements in this field are exposed. The book is well conceived and well written. There are 160 literature citations, which give the reader a fairly complete survey of the literature on the subject. This is a book that should be on the bookshelf of anyone with a developing interest in analysis on manifolds. Its translation into English is imperious.