Circle-valued Morse theory (Q858170)

The book under review is a very nice and valuable text on the Morse-Novikov theory. It can help anyone who wants to learn the basics of the theory as well as some more recent and advanced developments and applications. Morse theory is one of the most popular and basic tool in differential topology, the Morse complex provides a nice chain complex that computes the singular homology of closed manifolds. Morse Theory is based on the study of critical points of a \(\mathbb R\)-valued function on a closed manifold. The idea of Novikov is to study non-degenerate critical points of circle valued functions on closed manifolds. This theory has a lot of geometrical virtues as shown by its numerous applications, one can cite the study of fibrations over the circle or the study of knots and links in \(S^3\). Parts 1 and 2 constitute a very nice introduction to the classical theory of the Morse complex. In part 1 the author gives a careful exposition of the basic notions of Morse functions, their gradients and vector fields. In part 2 the Morse complex is introduced using the concept of Kupka-Smale transversality for gradient flows. Part 3 is much more original, the author explains his theory of cellular gradient, this part is again into the realm of classical Morse theory. The author's point of view is to develop the theory into the \(C^0\) world rather than into the \(C^{\infty}\) one. Finally part 4 is devoted to the study of the Morse-Novikov complex. This chain complex is freely generated by critical points of a generic circle valued function. It computes the homology of the manifold with local coefficients. This last part is also devoted to the description of recent developments of the theory.