A generalized index theorem for Morse-Sturm systems and applications to semi-Riemannian geometry

DOI10.4310/AJM.2001.V5.N3.A3MaRDI QIDQ700507zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Fabio Giannoni, Antonio Masiello, Paolo Piccione, Daniel V. Tausk

Publication date 22 October 2002

Published in The Asian Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9908056

zbMATH Keywords

Lorentzian manifoldMaslov indexindex theoremMorse index theoremLorentzian geodesicsMorse-Sturm systems

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Nonlinear boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations (34B15) Global differential geometry of Lorentz manifolds, manifolds with indefinite metrics (53C50) Index theory and related fixed-point theorems on manifolds (58J20) Variational problems in applications to the theory of geodesics (problems in one independent variable) (58E10)

Abstract: We prove an extension of the Index Theorem for Morse-Sturm systems of the form $-V^{″}+RV=0$, where R is symmetric with respect to a (non positive) symmetric bilinear form, and thus the corresponding differential operator is not self-adjoint. The result is then applied to the case of a Jacobi equation along a geodesic in a Lorentzian manifold, obtaining an extension of the Morse Index Theorem for Lorentzian geodesics with variable initial endpoints. Given a Lorentzian manifold (M,g), we consider a geodesic $gamma$ in M starting orthogonally to a smooth submanifold P of M. Under suitable hypotheses, satisfied, for instance, if (M,g) is stationary, the theorem gives an equality between the index of the second variation of the action functional f at $gamma$ and the sum of the {em Maslov index} of $gamma$ with the index of the metric g on P. Under generic circumstances, the Maslov index of $gamma$ is given by an algebraic count of the P-focal points along $gamma$. Using the Maslov index, we obtain the global Morse relations for geodesics between two fixed points in a stationary Lorentzian manifold.

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