On Morse Index Retrieval

Abstract

A smooth function f in a neighbourhood of the unit sphere $S^{n - 1}$ is said to admit index $\lambda$ if it can be extended to a function F in the unit ball $B^n$ such that F has a unique critical point p and the Morse index of p is equal to $\lambda$. It is easy to see that a function f cannot admit two indices of different parity. We prove that for any two indices that differ by two there exists a function f that admits both of them.