Reeb spaces of smooth functions on manifolds

Abstract

The Reeb space of a continuous function is the space of connected components of the level sets. In this paper we first prove that the Reeb space of a smooth function on a closed manifold with finitely many critical values has the structure of a finite graph without loops. We also show that an arbitrary finite graph without loops can be realized as the Reeb space of a certain smooth function on a closed manifold with finitely many critical values, where the corresponding level sets can also be preassigned. Finally, we show that a continuous map of a smooth closed connected manifold to a finite connected graph without loops that induces an epimorphism between the fundamental groups is identified with the natural quotient map to the Reeb space of a certain smooth function with finitely many critical values, up to homotopy.