Morse theory and the calculus of variations (Q6077511)

In this interesting paper, the author proves that classical Morse theory applies to functionals of the form \[ \mathcal{J}(u)=\frac{1}{2}\int_{\Omega}A_{\alpha\beta}^{ij}(x)\frac{\partial u^i}{\partial x^{\alpha}}\frac{\partial u^j}{\partial x^{\beta}}dx+\int_{\Omega}G(x,u)dx, \] where \(u:\Omega \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^N,\) \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n\) is compact with \(C^{\infty}\) boundary \(\partial\Omega\), and \(u|_{\partial\Omega}=\varphi\). More precisely, if \(G\) is \(C^3\) in the variable \(u\) and continuous in \(x\), \(A_{\alpha\beta}^{ij}(x)\in C^1(\Omega)\), and for all \(x\) the \(nN\times nN\) matrix \([A_{\alpha\beta}^{ij}(x)]\) satisfies \(A_{\alpha\beta}^{ij}(x)\xi_{\alpha}^i\xi_{\beta}^j=A_{\beta\alpha}^{ji}(x)\xi_{\alpha}^i\xi_{\beta}^j\ge \lambda |\xi|^2\) for some \(\lambda > 0\), then this is the largest class to which Morse theory applies. The paper is organized into four sections as follows : introduction, Morse theory on Banach manifolds, the calculus of variations, generic non-degeneracy. The author's papers directly connected to this subject are [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 34, 396--402 (1972; Zbl 0256.58003); J. Funct. Anal. 23, 362--368 (1976; Zbl 0341.58005); J. Differ. Geom. 12, 47--85 (1977; Zbl 0344.58012); \textit{F. Tomi} and \textit{A. Tromba}, Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 58, No. 5, Paper No. 172, 12 p. (2019; Zbl 1478.35114)].