Morse theory for the Yang-Mills functional via equivariant homotopy theory

A result (Corollary 4.3) in an article by Uhlenbeck (1985) asserts that the $W^{1,p}$-distance between the gauge-equivalence class of a connection $A$ and the moduli subspace of flat connections $M(P)$ on a principal $G$-bundle $P$ over a closed Riemannian manifold $X$ of dimension $d\geq 2$ is bounded by a constant times the $L^p$ norm of the curvature, $\|F_A\|_{L^p(X)}$, when $G$ is a compact Lie group, $F_A$ is $L^p$-small, and $p>d/2$. While we prove that this estimate h...

For an equivariant Morse stratification which contains a unique open stratum, we introduce the notion of equivariant antiperfection, which means the difference of the equivariant Morse series and the equivariant Poincare series achieves the maximal possible value (instead of the minimal possible value 0 in the equivariantly perfect case). We also introduce a weaker condition of local equivariant antiperfection. We prove that the Morse stratification of the Yang-Mills function...

Sengupta's lower bound for the Yang-Mills action on smooth connections on a bundle over a Riemann surface generalizes to the space of connections whose action is finite. In this larger space the inequality can always be saturated. The Yang-Mills critical sets correspond to critical sets of the energy action on a space of paths. This may shed light on Atiyah and Bott's conjecture concerning Morse theory for the space of connections modulo gauge transformations.

If we consider the moduli space of flat connections of a non trivial principal SO(3)-bundle over a surface, then we can define a map from the set of perturbed closed geodesics, below a given energy level, into families of perturbed Yang-Mills connections depending on a small parameter. In this paper we show that this map is a bijection and maps perturbed geodesics into perturbed Yang-Mills connections with the same Morse index.

In this paper (Part I) and its sequels (Part II and Part III), we analyze the structure of the space of solutions to the epsilon-Dirichlet problem for the Yang-Mills equations on the 4-dimensional disk, for small values of the coupling constant epsilon. These are in one-to-one correspondence with solutions to the Dirichlet problem for the Yang Mills equations, for small boundary data. We prove the existence of multiple solutions, and, in particular, non minimal ones, and esta...

Let $M$ be a smooth closed orientable surface, and let $F$ be the space of Morse functions on $M$ such that at least $\chi(M)+1$ critical points of each function of $F$ are labeled by different labels (enumerated). Endow the space $F$ with $C^\infty$-topology. We prove the homotopy equivalence $F\sim R\times{\widetilde{\cal M}}$ where $R$ is one of the manifolds ${\mathbb R}P^3$, $S^1\times S^1$ and the point in dependence on the sign of $\chi(M)$, and ${\widetilde{\cal M}}$ ...

We argue for the presence of a ${\bf Z}_2$ topological structure in the space of static gauge-Higgs field configurations of $SU(2n)$ and $SO(2n)$ Yang-Mills theories. We rigorously prove the existence of a ${\bf Z}_2$ homotopy group of mappings from the 2-dim. projective sphere ${\bf R}P^2$ into $SU(2n)/{\bf Z}_2$ and $SO(2n)/{\bf Z}_2$ Lie groups respectively. Consequently the symmetric phase of these theories admits infinite surfaces of odd-parity static and unstable gauge ...

Atiyah and Bott used equivariant Morse theory applied to the Yang-Mills functional to calculate the Betti numbers of moduli spaces of vector bundles over a Riemann surface, rederiving inductive formulae obtained from an arithmetic approach which involved the Tamagawa number of SL_n. This article surveys this link between Yang-Mills theory and Tamagawa numbers, and explains how methods used over the last three decades to study the singular cohomology of moduli spaces of bundle...

The stability of Yang-Mills bundles over the usual $S^4$ space-time manifold is investigated according to the topological methods. The necessary gauge- and topological invaraint criterion for the exsitence of the related critical points is defined. It is shown that according to this criterion there exists no critical point even for the action functional of the standard U(1) gauge theory of electrodynamics on a $S^4$ manifold in view of its topological structure and therefore ...

We exhibit some (compact and cusped) finite-volume hyperbolic four-manifolds M with perfect circle-valued Morse functions, that is circle-valued Morse functions $f\colon M \to S^1$ with only index 2 critical points. We construct in particular one example where every generic circle-valued function is homotopic to a perfect one. An immediate consequence is the existence of infinitely many finite-volume (compact and cusped) hyperbolic 4-manifolds $M$ having a handle decomposit...