No label defined (Q4941787)

This volume is a complement to the book by \textit{Luís Sanchez} [`Methods of critical point theory', Textos de Matemática 1, Lisboa (1993; Zbl 0964.58009) see the preceding review] and concentrates entirely on linking theorems for functionals on Banach spaces. Thus the author discusses the following material, most of which is ``classical''. Chapter 1 is concerned with homotopies between level sets of a functional (including the existence theorem for ordinary differential equations in a Banach space and gradient deformations), Chapter 2 with the Palais-Smale condition (PS) and various (weak) compactness conditions. Chapter 3 is concerned with minimization criteria, while Chapter 4 presents the minimax method and linked sets. This is extended in Chapter 5 to sets linked by a homotopy and then to the Mountain pass theorem and the saddle point theorem in Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 8 presents Silva's theorem on linked spheres [\textit{E. Alves de Barros e Silva}, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl. 16, 455-477 (1991; Zbl 0731.35042)] while Chapter 9 includes just about all the results known on multiplicities at the time of writing, i.e., results on particular linking situations that imply the existence of more than one critical point for a functional. The last four chapters are concerned with Morse theory, including a discussion of the Morse indices, the Morse Lemma, and the Sard-Smale theorem. There is a fine bibliography.